


Life And Death Situations

by Cyberrat



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Choose Your Own Adventure, Creature Powers, Explicit Sexual Content, M/M, Mindalteration, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2020-10-17 14:57:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 55,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20622926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cyberrat/pseuds/Cyberrat
Summary: Lúcio works in a research facility that has captured some very interesting specimen...New specimen seem to have appeared right off the coast and a robot is sent to scope out the situation...Meanwhile Jesse, Lúcio's best friend, stumbles across a very unnerving discovery on his own...How will all of this end? You decide.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Choose Your Own Adventure fic.  
Unfortunately you can't vote for it here. Please refer to the end notes to find out more.  
Updated every two weeks.  
One chapter behind to where it is originally posted.

Lúcio is in the kitchen chopping up some of the larger fish into more bite-sized chunks while over the speakers the rushing of the ocean can be heard. It’s none of his tracks – he simply likes listening to the sound of the water crashing against the shore and the screaming of the gulls every now and then; just to remind himself what the  _ real deal _ is all about.

He thinks in his line of work it is important to not lose sight of the important things. Saving the lives in the ocean, first and foremost – though it admittedly has become more and more difficult to keep in mind since…

He shakes his head, frowning, annoyed at himself.  _ Keep focused, man! _

When he has put the smaller fish and the chunks of salmon on a plate in a manner that he thinks is most appealing, he grabs the dinner and makes his way over to the living room. The sound of the ocean follows him along through the speakers that are installed all throughout his home. The closer he gets to the living room, however, the more clearly he can hear Gabriel as well, humming along softly – as if he can hear some kind of rhythm in the cries of the gulls.

There is an otherworldly kind of trill to his voice that Lúcio has yet to replicate.

He stands around the corner of the doorway, the plate of fish close to his chest, just listening to the sounds Gabriel is making – until their is a sudden silence. There is the sound of splashing and then the music from above cuts out into static before an ominous, deep voice says indistinctly: “Smell the fish. Hunger.”

Goosebumps rise all along Lúcio’s arms. As he turns with a: “Comiiing!” the sound of the ocean resumes above them.

Gabriel is at the side of his water tank, arms stacked on the rim, flatly staring at Lúcio until the young researcher feels guilt creeping up in his chest. He stops smiling and sighs.

“I’m sorry.”

Gabriel does not comment on it but the little panel installed to his right temple blinks with ominous red lights which is more chastising than Lúcio would like to admit.

He quietly takes the plate from Lúcio and, just to drive home that he doesn’t enjoy the attempted sneakiness, turns and moves away from the front of the tank to eat quietly somewhere in the dark back.

Lúcio lets him be; there is nothing he could do to explain himself anyway. Gabriel is fiercely intelligent, and he’s seen how volatile he’s been with the researchers that treated him like a dumb animal, so he doesn’t even try.

He wanders over to his couch while Gabriel is eating, and sits himself down. He stops the overhead sounds and instead switches the TV on, but his thoughts remain with work as per usual.

They have made out activity of more… hybrids, and they have sent a robot to discreetly investigate the scene. Lúcio is not sure what he thinks of the whole thing. He is excited, of course, but it makes him once more wonder about how ethically sound the whole endeavor is.

For now they’ve always been lucky in that the specimen they found have been… unfit to be let back out into the ocean by their own devices. But what if they find perfectly sound hybrids?

Lúcio stares over towards Gabriel’s tank again. It is as big as he could make it, but of course not nearly as big as Gabriel would like and need. Seeing him in there always makes his belly twist nervously in on itself.

He doesn’t have all of his tentacles anymore, but still the ink black lower half of his body is filling up  _ so much _ of the tank…

Gabriel comes over to the side of his enclosure again once he has finished eating. He reaches over and places the plate on a little table next to it, then grabs the rim of the tank and starts to pull himself up. Lúcio gets up in an awkward half crouch, as always alarmed by the sight, but Gabriel is as handy about getting out of the water as he’s always been – and boy had those first few times in the research lab been scary.

Lúcio stays in the position he’s in and watches as the hybrid uses the inhuman strength in his arms to first pull himself up and then let himself down. The floor all around the tank is stone that immediately goes dark with all the water sluicing off of Gabriel’s body.

There is a weird shift as his tentacles curl in on themselves and seem to just… wither away. It always is a disturbing sight – but eventually Gabriel looks close to human. Instead of an octopus abdomen he is having human legs, one ending just above the knee, the other similarly littered in scars.

A life in the ocean is a life being a warrior, Gabriel told him vaguely when Lúcio had asked about all his wounds. Still, he yearns to be back.

Lúcio feels the same kind of twisted guilt watching Gabriel come towards him, handily crawling over the floor, but Gabriel is very adamant about not wanting help from humans, and he most of the time ignores the light wheelchair next to the aquarium.

“Oh, Gabriel,” Lúcio says softly and finally sits back down again. Gabriel reaches for him, the nails on his fingers as ink black as his lower body had been, and razor sharp to boot. He is very careful as he curls his hand around Lúcio’s knee, however, and Lúcio easily opens his thighs, cheeks feeling warm and belly prickling as he watches the hybrid crawl in between them. 

Gabriel doesn’t know what he’s doing, he tries to tell himself, but… well. It sometimes becomes hard to believe himself.

He watches as Gabriel makes himself comfortable on the plush rug and leans his not inconsiderable weight into Lúcio’s right leg, one arm slung over his thigh. 

“You’re not mad?”

He reaches out and slowly drags his fingers across Gabriel’s scalp. He’s had long, wonderful hair once, but it had been matted down and tangled during his stay in the research facilities. And just a couple weeks ago Lúcio had installed the little panel at his temple, so they’ve kept it short, but now…

The overhead speakers crackle to life and the ominous voice rasps a simple: “No.”

The little light on the panel blinks simultaneously, then stops. Lúcio slowly drags his fingers along Gabriel’s scalp, gently scratching him the way he knows the hybrid likes. Soon enough, Gabriel’s eyes start to droop and he puts his head down, leaning it against the juncture of Lúcio’s leg and abdomen.

The first few evenings he had turned himself around to watch the TV, but he has concluded that he is not interested in the flickering lights and instead just sits turned towards Lúcio, watching him quietly relaxing himself.

It is a calm atmosphere, all in all. Lúcio never speaks of the research facility to Gabriel, and Gabriel never asks. At work, he makes up little fake progress reports that he feels awful for, but he doesn’t want them to know the things he actually gets up to with Gabriel.

And he doesn’t want them to take Gabriel away from him.

He slowly rubs his fingertips along Gabriel’s head, eyes on the screen, mindlessly touching the hybrid who is so sweetly nestled between his legs.

He’s told him multiple times he could sit on the couch with him, but Gabriel clearly seems to prefer this constellation for whatever reason.

He’s known him for almost two years now and still the hybrid is just one big secret to Lúcio.

He wishes he could tell anybody about it, but he doesn’t think his friends would even believe him. Who would have thought that mermaids existed? And that they’re weird Lovecraftian monsters?

Gabriel makes a soft, trilling sound and Lúcio looks down, watching as he shifts his position a little, his cock – very human looking in this state – sliding between his thickly muscled thighs. Lúcio can feel himself flushing immediately and averts his gaze.

He shouldn’t. He really,  _ really _ shouldn’t.

As he keeps rubbing Gabriel’s head and shoulders he thinks that he needs to just distract himself.

Maybe he should check in on that robot they’ve sent out into the shallows of the coast? 

Or maybe he should call Jesse and ask him how life has treated him these past few weeks… It has been a while since he last just heard a nice, familiar voice that wasn’t his hybrid growling at him ominously through the speakers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's votes were:
> 
> Lúcio should check in with the robot!
> 
> Lúcio should check in with Jesse!
> 
> \---
> 
> The updates on AO3 are one chapter behind. If you want to find out how you can vote, visit me on my tumblr (cyberrat)!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: none
> 
> Rather than check in with the robot, Lúcio decides to call his old friend...

Jesse picks up at the seventh ring, just before it would go to voicemail. Lúcio’s eyes flick a bit frantically to his wristwatch to make sure that he hasn’t just completely lost track of time and ringed him in the middle of the night.

But no – it’s just shy of going to eight, and Jesse does not sound tired, but he also doesn’t sound like his usual chipper self.

“McCree,” he grunts into the phone, and Lúcio can feel a few of his muscles relax despite himself. Jesse has always been a good friend, and just hearing his voice is… nice. Lúcio leans back and mutes the television, eyes on Gabriel as he resumes to slowly drag blunt fingernails in nonsense patterns across his scalp.

“Hey there, Jesse!”

“...Lùcio? Lúcio! Oh… wow I hadn’t had a peek on the- … how are ya? Haven’t heard from you in a _while_.”

“Oh, you know… swamped with work. As usual.” He smiles a bit as he drags his palm across Gabriel’s head and the hybrid closes his eyes and sinks some more against him; just enjoying the sensation.

He’s become incredibly affectionate since Lúcio has taken him in.

“Hmmm don’t I know it. Workaholic… Are they treatin’ you right?”

The smile somewhat fades from Lúcio’s face at that. He hums and shrugs his shoulders despite Jesse not being able to see it.

“It’s a job. Me and my colleagues… we’re not really on the same wavelength but I like working with the…” there’s a second that the word ‘animals’ is on the tip of his tongue and he stares down at Gabriel with shocked dismay. In the end he settles on a lame: “...specimen.”

Jesse is quiet on the other side. Lúcio can hear the TV through the line and imagines Jesse sitting at his checkered little plastic kitchen table with a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth and a bottle of beer in front of him.

There’s finally a soft grunt and then Jesse’s deep voice is back.

“Don’t let ‘em get to you, ya hear me? You’re too good to be confined in that shitty… shitty… _research facility_ anyway. Ya should try and get another gig.”

Lúcio hums softly. He’s thought about it a lot as well; had been, in fact, already hunting for new jobs when Gabriel and specimen 76 were dragged bleeding and fighting from the coast just off-

Well.

They had changed a lot of things.

“Ah well. I’m looking into it,” he murmurs evasively. “What about you, though? You sound… weird.”

There’s another silence on the other end of the phone. He can hear the soft drag of Jesse pulling on a cigarette and stares down at Gabriel looking absolutely blissed out getting his head and shoulders rubbed. He’s thought Jesse had started getting off of cigarettes by trying to sublimate them with… just about anything else he can stuff into his mouth.

“There was just something… weird about today, and I’m still thinking about it,” Jesse says eventually. Lúcio hums.

“It’s been pretty grey and stormy these past days. I can’t imagine a lot of people going to the beach.”

“True…”

.o.

_It _had_ been pretty grey for almost a week now, but still there are those that are not daunted by the winds getting colder. They still trudge down to the water and lie on their blankets pretending like they aren’t freezing their asses off._

_Jesse doesn’t mind; he really likes his job. It is laid back most of the time – as long as it’s not the height of season. Being out here and saving lives (and being admired by kids, lets be real) is something of a calling to him, if he is being honest._

_He is good at what he does._

_They’re always at least two, and his buddy is inside the HQ, doing paperwork while Jesse is outside keeping an eye on the few people scattered across the beach – when something flashing in the corner of his eye catches his attention. He turns his head, glancing towards the jagged cliffs that abruptly start not too far off at the side of the beach. They are a foreboding rock formation that very neatly and clearly cuts the beach off to one side while the other one stretches on for miles and miles._

_The water there is an agitated grey and white from crashing against the sharp rocks that jut out from the foot of the stone wall. The place is dark and foreboding, but something Jesse enjoys when it comes down to it._

_On sunny days, it is a breathtaking sight; like someone ripped a picture in half. It makes him always feel a little woozy to look at._

_He grabs the little binoculars that are hanging between his pecs and lifts them to his eyes, peering at the crashing waves. It seems impossible that something from so far away should have caught his eye but Jesse has seen all sorts of weird things at this beach and he’s better safe than sorry._

_(Like that time he had been sure he saw a lady drown but by the time he got to the spot, there’s been neither hide nor hair to be seen – and when he went back, waterproof walkie-talkie already in hand to call the authorities, the lady had been right there on her beach towel, looking eerily calm and waving her fingers at him with a goofy little smile on her face that reminded him of someone under a spell)_

_He slowly looks along the jagged rocks that litter the beach, bringing to mind the bright teal fleck he thinks he has seen glinting out of the corner of his eye. He’s just about to give up and attribute it to an unusual reflection of the sunlight in the water, when he spots something and his blood freezes in his veins. _

_There is a hand peeking out behind one of the larger rocks, the fingers digging claw-like into the little pebbles that make up the beach over yonder._

_“Aaron!” he calls back, already loping over the short railing he’s been standing at. “I gotta go!”_

_He doesn’t hear if Aaron calls something back, his body moving before his mind has really caught up with what is happening._

_He is shooting along the beach, his long legs eating up the distance. It is a shitty underground to run on but his thighs are thick and muscular from training for so long and catapult him along the shore line, aided by the sudden rush of adrenalin that is being pumped through his blood stream._

_In his mind’s eye he is just seeing that hand; impossibly pale against the dark backdrop of the wet stone; the only saving grace for that person that he’s even spotted it. The fingers had been dug deeply into the pebbles and the sand beneath. The person must still be alive, right?_

_There is a hitch in his step. The closer he gets to the foreboding cliffs, the more his heart starts to race. His teeth are digging into the wooden stem of the popsicle he had been eating earlier. His temples are pulsing with the onset of a headache._

_It feels like he is entering through a veil into another world. The beach is a sunny, happy place, but the cliffs are… not. They have a strange aura about them. Like they are frequented by beings that don’t like to be watched by humans._

_He sometimes thinks of Harry Potter and how the wizards have spells to make people remember other urgent things they have to attend to when they wander into places they are not supposed to be in. He thinks the same might be true for these cliffs – only that the energy feels less benign._

_There is a moment in which Jesse’s legs just stop moving, and tremble like a colt’s. They want to make him turn and run back towards the _good _place again._

_But then he spots it again and there is no way he could turn back. There between the rocks: no longer just a hand, but a hand attached to an arm._

_He comes closer, the rushing of the water and the breaking of the waves against the rocks masking his steps._

_“Hey!” he calls and the part of him that is _sure_ that the person has to be dead flinches as the arm suddenly is snatched back behind the rock. Annoyance flares in his chest over being such a scaredy-cat, and over this idiot that’s wandered in here. “Are ya hurt? Ye’re not supposed to be here!”_

_He comes closer. There is the sound of something thrashing against the rocks and the water. Something big and heavy. He can see pebbles flying into the air._

_“Easy now,” he says, pitching his voice deep and gentle as he realizes they could just as well be injured. “Easy. I’m here to help ya. Are you hurt? Don’t you worry none, you are in the best of-”_

_Jesse rounds the boulder, and when he sees what’s behind it, his hand shoots out to brace himself against the wet stone. He has to because his world seems to tilt on its axis._

_There’s a man lying there – only that it’s not a man. For one heartbeat Jesse thinks that his lower half is stuck inside a huge fish but that is just as impossible as the actual truth: which is that this writhing teal blue mass hanging to the man’s hips actually is his body._

_It is wrapped in a heavy black net, making it difficult to figure out the specifics of what is going on there. The man – though Jesse is not too sure about that either – is pushing at the wet fabric, trying to get it off, his massive biceps bulging with the effort; and Jesse is just left staring until the man, the… the _creature_ suddenly whirls on him and opens its mouth wide on a hiss, showing off a fierce looking set of sharp canines. Its eyes, made up of thin black slits inside the sclera, look absolutely murderous._

_Jesse takes a hurried step back and lifts his hands in surrender. Something at the back of his mind is screaming for him to run, but what he instead does is pitch his voice low and calming._

_“Easy now. I’m not here ta hurt ya. Ye’re in kind of a predicament, aren’t ya?” The creature has stopped hissing and instead is just staring steadily at Jesse. It has long, black hair in which all kinds of bits and baubles are caught in. It falls into its face now, making it look even more deranged._

_Him. Making him look even more deranged. He looks like a normal man, except for a few bits and pieces that just don’t seem to fit._

_Jesse’s heart is pounding up to his throat and he slowly lowers himself into a crouch – far enough away to be out of the range of arms that end in ferocious looking claws._

_He reaches back, but probably a little too fast because the man’s mouth opens a bit again on a soft hiss. Jesse slows his movements down, eyes glued to the man. The creature. The man._

_The waves are still relentlessly crashing, foam hiding most of his lower body in waves that come and go, but it is impossible to deny that this is indeed this man’s body._

_As Jesse drags his little red backpack off of his shoulders he has to think of mermaids. Only that the creature in front of him looks a lot less magical and a lot more… murderous. There are things that he thinks might be his fins, and they look bony and like they end in very sharp tips._

_This creature is made to _fight_, and Jesse does not know what to do to calm him down to get close enough to help him out of his predicament._

_The man has stopped hissing for now, at least, and is just steadily staring at Jesse, hands planted on the rocky beach and fingers digging in. He looks ready to pounce if he could even move an inch._

_“I uh… I can help you,” Jesse says. He has no idea if the creature understands him. The flinty dark eyes just keep staring at him._

_He glances into his backpack. It is stuffed full of first aid material in a little plastic baggie to keep it from going wet. There is a Swiss Army knife in there somewhere, he knows it; and a chocolate bar as well._

_He stares at it with a sinking feeling while chewing on the little stick of the popsicle he’s had earlier._

_He imagines himself pulling out the Swiss Army knife and showing the creature the sharp edges of it. He is pretty sure it would feel threatened and try to kill him._

_He could maybe try and gentle it down with the bar of chocolate, but… the thought of getting even remotely in swiping distance of these muscular arms is making his belly sink – and what if it decided that it rather is on the market for meat anyway?_

_So… either get it over with quick and let it go back to freedom, or try to calm it down. What… should he do?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Choices that had been available for this chapter:
> 
> "Try and get it freed quickly. Maybe it is intelligent enough to understand that."
> 
> "Try and calm it down first. Gain its trust through food."  
\---  
If you want to know how you can vote on the outcome, just come to my tumblr (cyberrat)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: beginnings of a panic attack
> 
> Rather than trust the creature and show it the knife, Jesse decides to try and calm it down first by pulling out the chocolate bar...

_Jesse unearths the chocolate bar. He takes a deep breath._

_He figures offering the creature something to eat might calm it down enough – or at least distract it enough – for him to be able to free it and let it go back into the water._

_There is a little part in the back of his head reminding him that it is dangerous to let it go back; that he is probably putting the lives of other people on the line… that he should maybe… call authorities (or Lúcio, at the very least), but in the end he puts his little backpack to the side and crouches down, holding the chocolate bar in front of himself and making a show out of opening the plastic wrapping for the creature._

_When he glances up, he sees the eyes of the creature… man… directed at the chocolate bar. His face is stony and focused, making him look simultaneously mad and uninterested, weirdly enough._

_“There you go,” Jesse murmurs as he has opened it enough to show the chocolate underneath. “It’s something to eat. You’ll like it.” He hopes, at least. He hopes he is not poisoning the man._

_When he does not react other than flicking his gaze up to Jesse when he speaks, Jesse dares to come a little closer. He has to get on one hand and his knees, crawling with his arm outstretched, offering up the chocolate bar._

_“Go on… take it,” he croons, slightly waving it in the creature’s face. _

_He is not quite sure what triggers the man; whether he has been planning all along to just lull Jesse into thinking he is complacent… or whether the waving of the treat annoyed him – but all of a sudden the man lashes out, swiping at Jesse._

_Jesse cries out, letting the chocolate bar fall to the wet stones as he instinctively throws himself backwards and out of reach. Sitting on his ass, he is staring right into the wide-open maw of the creature as it roars at Jesse. It looks like it has managed to unhinge its jaw like a snake or some shit. There are rows of sharp teeth in its mouth and its throat is just a black, hungry maw._

_Jesse’s heart is racing painfully fast in his chest, thumping against his ribcage and making him feel nauseous as he just stares at the creature, frozen in place, unable to do anything for a few long seconds. Then, finally, he springs back into action and lifts his arms hectically to look at them; everything has happened so fast... too fast to let his head catch up with any pain – yet when he sees the bleeding scratches on the fleshy inside of his left forearm, he suddenly becomes aware of the searing pulses of agony pumping through him._

_The wound doesn’t look like anything major; the scratches are shallow and only bleeding mildly, but there is a dark green substance smeared all around them that makes them burn like fire._

_His first thought is that he’s been poisoned. He looks up, trying to see any of the substance on the creature’s sharp nails, but can’t make out anything. _

_He begins to panic. Is he going to die? He thinks of all the toxins that can kill a man within a few heart beats. He stares back down at his arm, curling the other one up and pressing it against his heaving chest to try and calm himself._

_He can feel himself teetering on the verge of a full-blown panic attack – frightening in and off itself as Jesse usually is as laid back as they come – when the painful burn throughout his whole body begins to subside just as quickly as it had come up._

_Beneath his disbelieving gaze, the dark green smears around the wounds seem to… sink into his skin. Like a salve they begin to dry up, leaving first tacky wet spots behind, before those, too, are simply… gone. His head is pulsing painfully with an all-encompassing headache. He finds himself wondering if his panicking brain just made the green smears up in the heat of the moment._

_He carefully flexes his fingers into a fist, and then relaxes them again. Everything is in working order. Even the bleeding, sluggish in and off itself, has stopped already. If it weren’t for the four jagged slashes down his inner forearm, he would have thought he had imagined the whole thing in the first place._

_While he sits there, a strange feeling of vertigo expanding in his belly, the man in front of him moves._

_He hears crinkling and looks up. The man has plucked the chocolate bar off the ground and is sniffing at it carefully, slitted eyes still fixed on Jesse – first his face, then his arm._

_There is a pause in the man’s demeanour, then. His face might not be entirely human, but it is enough so that Jesse can clearly read some kind of intrigued confusion on it. The man cranes his neck, trying to get a better look at the wound, and Jesse reflexively curls his arm against his chest to hide it from him._

_The man looks… hilariously annoyed but for some reason does not seem hostile anymore. Not _friendly_, either, but not spitting mad at least as he lifts the chocolate bar again and pretends like he is very interested in it when Jesse is pretty sure he is thinking the same thought Jesse is._

Why is he not dead?

_Jesse takes a deep breath. He roots around his little backpack and grabs the bandana he had stuffed into it earlier that week. He wraps it awkwardly around his forearm, hiding the wounds and hopefully shielding them from any sand for the moment._

_He grabs the Swiss Army knife and takes another deep breath. He is not quite sure why he is even still considering helping this bastard, but he’s come this far, he might as well… right?_

_He opens the knife and holds it up, showing it to the uninterested creature. The man is leaning on one elbow while carefully eating the bar of chocolate. He seems bored now, of all things._

_When Jesse carefully comes closer, the man does not react one way or another. He seems like a king waiting for his subject to attend to him._

_Jesse still is cautious, nervously eying the upper half of the creature, waiting for it to suddenly lash out again as he reaches out for the first tangle of the heavy net that is ensnared around its lower body._

_Nothing happens other than the man occasionally turning to glance at him, so he has to let him out of his eye to look at what he’s doing. His heart is still hammering, but there’s a sort of calmness draping over him as Jesse tries not to hurt the man’s greyish body when he begins to saw at the sturdy lines tangled about it. The endeavor is shitty and then some._

_The net doesn’t feel like anything he’s ever dealt with, and he begins to understand while the creature hadn’t been able to free itself even with its sharp claws. It must have gotten panicked pretty quickly._

_The work is slow going, and with every minute that passes, the creature seems to get more impatient which, in turn, fuels Jesse’s nervousness. He gets frustrated halfway through and gets to sawing harder – until his blade slips. His heart instantly sinks in the split second he has, watching the blade slip down and against the man’s greyish body – but the blade simply glances off of the sturdy hide. _

_Jesse glances up at him. He does not seem worried one way or another – if he had even felt it._

_Jesse begins to wonder if he should have just held the knife aloft from the very beginning; the creature must have known that the blade wouldn’t be able to penetrate the thick scales, but… hindsight is 20/20._

_As he works, he can take stock of the body in front of him. The abdomen is indeed an impossibly long tail; the most part of it even still lying in the grey, murky water, shielding it from view._

_What surprises him most are the two short legs that he finds. They look like the fat, sturdy legs of a komodo dragon. When he frees the first, he finds himself grabbing for it, studying it in his hands, the deadly man attached to them forgotten for a moment as he spreads the toes and finds webbing between them._

_Just like the man’s fingers, his short legs are adorned with wicked, curved claws._

_A sound shakes him out of his thoughts and has him look up to see the man having twisted his upper body around, glaring at him with narrowed eyes. Jesse flushes and quickly lets go of the foot._

_“Sorry,” he mumbles thoughtlessly. He’s not sure if the man understands his words but he does turn back and keeps on ignoring Jesse._

_Halfway through freeing him, when most of his… tail… is no longer ensnared in the net, the creature suddenly convulses and throws Jesse a good foot away onto the pebbles of the beach. _

_He cries out in shock and pain as he hits the ground, body already aching with what he knows will be a good batch of bruises._

_There’s the sound of shuffling, and when he pushes himself somewhat up to see what is happening, he can just about make out the last bit of the creature as it drags itself back into the water, the rest of the net peeled off like a snake’s skin._

_Jesse is left sitting and staring, wondering if he imagined things but knowing that he didn’t. The evidence is all around the beach: the upturned swath of rocky sand; the now empty husk of the net. The empty wrapper of the chocolate bar._

_His vaguely pulsing forearm._

_He slowly lifts it and stares at it even though his bandana is still wrapped about it. There is a soft trilling sound and when he looks up, he sees the eyes of the man peering at him from just above the water’s surface a good few feet away. They look cool and calculating; watching him watch the wound he has received just by trying to be fucking nice._

_And then the eyes are gone, and Jesse is left sitting there all alone._

.o.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Lúcio’s voice jerks him out of his reverie. He is staring at his forearm, now wrapped in some clean bandages after he’s got back to the HQ and told Aaron some shitty story about an animal being caught in plastics.

There’s nothing weird about the scratches any longer, but Jesse still remembers the searing, pulsing pain that had quickly spread through his whole body. He feels… tainted somehow. Weird.

He looks about his little apartment, blinking blankly at the TV running.

“Jesse? Still there?”

Jesse flinches somewhat; he has the phone pressed against his ear so hard that it hurts a bit.

“Ah. Yeah. Sorry. Uh… listen. How ‘bout we meet up? Haven’t seen your face in too long. You always cheer me up.”

He can hear the big smile in Lúcio’s voice when he agrees to meeting him.

He hangs up after a few more pleasantries, and sits for a long while at his checkered little table, nursing his slowly warming beer and thinking about the weird creature.

.o.

“Louis? Uh… We should drive out there. Immediately. The ‘bot is starting to drift too far out of our control. I don’t even have visuals anymore.”

“Wait what? Ahh fuck… Is that thing kidnapping it or something?”

“Seems like it. He definitely has caught a liking to it him.”

“Stop saying ‘him’. It’s a goddamn robot.”

“I dunno. I think he’s really cute. He has some personality, you know.”

The two scientists are hastily starting to pack bags as they bicker back and forth, nervously eying the radar and how far the little dot has wandered by now. On another screen, the last grainy picture that the robot had been able to communicate, is visible: The curious face of the sea monster, it’s algae green hair gently wafting about its face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Choices that had been available for this chapter:
> 
> "We want to follow Lúcio's and Jesse's meeting"
> 
> "We want to follow the robot drifting out of reach"
> 
> \-----
> 
> If you want to know how to vote, just visit me on my tumblr (cyberrat)!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 4 – warnings: none
> 
> Rather than following the scientists, we waited a few days to see the meeting between Jesse and Lúcio...

Lúcio is smiling brightly at him when he finally catches Jesse’s eye at the little table next to the bar. He does not quite fit into the atmosphere here, but he sure is a welcome sight anyway.

The surroundings of the place are a bit murky and dubious, though not downright sinister and filthy as some other establishments. Still, when Lúcio walks past some old patrons, they do turn their heads to glance after him and check him out.

He looks a good five years younger than his actual age, and by the time he is sitting with Jesse he has already pulled out his ID to show together with ordering a drink.

He’s a good sport about it. Jesse always feels a lot better hanging around him; even now when his life has taken a definite turn for the… weird.

“Hey there, buddy. So good to see you again.” He feels himself relax when Lúcio sits down next to him, his limbs unfolding from what he hadn’t even realized was a tight, nervous clench.

Beneath the sleeve of his leather jacket he can vaguely feel his left forearm pulsing.

It’s been almost five days now and the wound hasn’t shown any sign of starting to heal. Quite the… contrary.

Today he’s found the starting of black creeping up at the edges, as if the weird oily substance that had sunk into his skin had just been biding its time and is now coming back to haunt him and remind him that nothing of it has been a dream.

“You look good,” Jesse tells him when Lúcio has settled down and his order is on the way. Lúcio smiles at him, and beneath the table, his booted feet are gently nudging Jesse’s calves.

“You look good, too, cowboy,” he says with a grin that shows off his dimples. Jesse has to laugh despite himself, hiding behind his glass of beer as he takes a sip. “You haven’t exchanged me for any new playmates, have you?”

He likes the gentle flirtation coming from Lúcio – and he likes responding in kind. After all, their friendship has started with the two of them fucking.

He waves him off with a rough bark of a laugh.

“Don’t even start… The last few dates were so damn bad. I can’t remember the last time I got my dick wet.”

He groans exaggerated and Lúcio makes a soft sound of commiseration, reaching out and patting his shoulder.

“There, there. You’ll get it sooner or later. Don’t you worry.” Lúcio’s smile fades a bit as he watches Jesse intently. “But… there’s something else, isn’t there?”

Jesse looks away to the side and lifts a hand, rubbing at the back of his neck.

“Jeez. That obvious?”

Lúcio just shrugs, his dark eyes keeping a tight watch on Jesse. 

“I’ve never seen you look like this before. Like… I feel like you’re getting wrinkles there or something? You just look… _worried_.”

Jesse’s eyes flick to the waiter who is putting Lúcio’s order in front of him before leaving the two of them in an awkward silence in the general rumbling of the pub.

Jesse sighs deeply and puts his chin on the palm of his hand. He is nervously tapping his foot against the floor, looking for something to deflect the attention from himself so he won’t have to think about the dull ache of his arm.

“But you got your own worries, don’t you?”

Lúcio shrugs. He is quiet for a while. They are watching each other, slowly taking sips from their drinks. It is an awkward situation – they’ve never had any problems striking up conversations, but this time the usual natural flow simply does not want to happen.

Whatever is weighing down Lúcio, he wants to talk about it enough to have started all of this. Even if he might not have admitted that to himself yet.

“I just have a… roommate, you could say,” Lúcio says suddenly with an air as if he just has to say it now and get it out. “And he’s worrying me.”

Jesse feels alarmed as he leans in, one hand on Lúcio’s forearm, squeezing gently.

“I can come and get him out of you want. Intimidate him a bit. I’m sure Reinhardt’d help.”

Lúcio looks at him in surprise, then smiles slowly, albeit sadly.

“That’s not what I meant, but… thank you. No… I don’t want him out. It was me that took him in in the first place. He… kind of didn’t have a choice about it.”

Jesse is frowning now, and Lúcio, seeing his confusion, shakes his head and rubs one hand across his face.

“Listen, it… it’s a really long story, alright? The thing is that… the _important_ thing is that I think I…” His dark eyes slide away from Jesse and he knows what he’s about to say even before Lúcio is finally making himself say it out loud. “I think I’ve fallen in love with him. And… I don’t think that’s a good thing. It’s more like… A doctor-patient kind of relationship?”

Jesse shakes his head slowly.

“I’ll be honest, buddy. I don’t understand a damn word you’re saying. Or trying to say.”

Lúcio nods slowly. He is smiling, but it looks brittle, and the corners of his mouth are trembling as if he is about to start bawling any second now.

Alarmed at the prospect, Jesse hastily shoves Lúcio’s glass into his fist, and the kid snorts and obediently takes a drink. When he sets it down again, a good quarter of the liquor is gone and he seems a lot less prone to breaking out into tears in the middle of the pub.

Jesse breathes out a sigh of relief. He’s… exceptionally bad with tears.

“Thanks,” Lúcio murmurs and leans back with a deep sigh, eyes closed and seemingly just gathering himself.

“It’s just pretty overwhelming, I guess. The whole situation is a bit fucked up, but my… friend… it’s not his fault. I don’t know what I wanted you to do by telling you this. Maybe I just needed to say it to make it real or something? I dunno.”

Jesse slowly rolls his bottle of beer between two palms, thinking about Lúcio’s words.

“I can’t tell you much, buddy. I feel like I don’t know even half of the situation, but… I know you wouldn’t hurt anybody. Just… take it slow, I guess? You got all the time in the world.”

Lúcio nods along slowly, his eyes looking like he’s gathering some kind of determination; as if Jesse actually helped him and hasn’t just been spouting empty bullshit.

“Yeah… You’re right. Thanks.”

“Uh… you’re welcome.”

He should feel better, but he kind of… doesn’t. His hand keeps trying to wander to his left forearm to clasp it, and the more he refuses to do it, the more he feels like the scratches are starting to… itch.

Lúcio also keeps watching him with a shrewd kind of expression that makes Jesse feel exposed.

He chews on his tongue and finally leans over. Lúcio follows suit immediately, like he’s been waiting for this the entire five days leading up to their meeting.

“Can I show you something?” Jesse says slowly, eyes flicking around to stare at their surroundings. Nobody gives a shit about them but it still feels… not right to do it here.

“In the restrooms?”

“No… outside. I want… Not in here.”

Lúcio nods slowly. He looks worried again, and his voice is pitched in a way that is designed to calm down a scared animal as he assures Jesse that they can go outside.

The vague anxiety of the situation suddenly crystallizes into something… stressful. They’re quiet, not talking any longer as Lúcio flags down the waiter and pays for both their drinks before they make their hasty retreat.

They haven’t been sitting there for more than half an hour, and Jesse vaguely wonders if they think they just met to hook up.

Lúcio looks at him askance, and Jesse, after looking around briefly, pulls him into the alley next to the pub. 

“You’re… kinda starting to scare me, not gonna lie,” Lúcio says with a nervous laugh in his voice. As he talks, Jesse rips off his jacket and thrusts his forearm towards Lúcio.

The light coming from the mouth of the alley is enough to illuminate the scene. Lúcio breathes out explosively. He reaches for Jesse’s arm, and he almost snatches it away. He grits his teeth, forcing himself to stay put.

Lúcio very gently takes his forearm and leans in to look at the gashes and the black edges of them.

“What happened?” He asks softly. He looks like he wants to touch the wounds but doesn’t.

Jesse swallows hard, gathering himself, then starting to tell Lúcio of his encounter with the… creature.

His tail is disjointed; he can’t find the right words most of the time which is frustrating because he feels like Lúcio just won’t _understand_ otherwise, but Lúcio is quiet and very interested.

When Jesse has come to a stop, breathing deep and agitated, Lúcio looks down at the wound once more. He hasn’t let go off Jesse’s forearm.

“That’s… pretty big, Jesse,” he says finally. “Those creatures, these… _people_ – are… super rare.”

Jesse swallows down his first reaction of a derisive bark of a laugh. Instead he squints down at Lúcio.

“So you’ve… heard of them before?”

Lúcio is nodding slowly, not taking his eyes off of Jesse’s forearm.

“Yes. We… had some at the lab. We were studying them.”

Jesse’s nostrils flare as he heaves a quiet sigh of relief.

“So you know what this is?” he says softly, gesturing with his free arm to the wound. His hope is instantly dashed when Lúcio shakes his head.

“I’ve never seen anything like it. And you say the black had been gone?”

“Yeah… until earlier today…”

“Hmm… It does not smell rotten… or looks like it, really…”

Jesse can feel his knees go a bit weak at that and he has to slump back against the rough bricks of the wall while Lúcio is thoughtfully prodding at the wound.

“Does that hurt?”

“No…”

“Have you been to a doctor yet?”

“No.”

“Good… then… I’ll see when I’ll be alone in the lab. Do you think you could come in so I could do some tests? I don’t think this is toxic…”

Jesse is dragging a hand across his face. He does not know if he feels lighter now that there is someone who knows and actually believes him. He’d half thought he’d end the night in a psychiatric ward, but Lúcio does not look perturbed at all.

“Yeah… sure. Why not.”

Lúcio smiles and looks up, grin dimming a bit when he sees Jesse’s expression.

“Hey… don’t worry about it, okay? We’ll figure this out! Don’t you think this is exciting? You’ve been in contact with a different lifeform!”

Jesse nods slowly but he can’t bring himself to be super enthusiastic. He can’t stop thinking about the cool, calculating gaze in the murderous eyes of the man.

“You’ll tell me if you see him again, won’t you?”

“Sure. Whatever you want.”

“Great!”

.o.

“So? What was the problem?”

“I dunno… everything seems to be intact. There’s not even a single scratch on his chassis. I can only try to reinforce the signal that he won’t try to go out of range again…”

Louis is nursing a vicious slash to his arm still. It has been a good five days but it hasn’t even begun to heal yet.

“This fucking animal… give your robot some weapons, won’t you? I’m not gonna try this again unarmed… fucking _shit_.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The choices for next chapter had been:
> 
> Violence
> 
> Desperation
> 
> They had been kept vague with the only hint that one is about Gabriel and Lúcio and one is about Zenyatta and Genji.
> 
> It had later been revealed that they are:
> 
> Violence: The story how Genji hurt the scientist.
> 
> Desperation: Lúcio coming home close to drunk and very susceptible to Gabriel's whims...


	5. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 5 – warnings: dub-con; mindalteration; sexual intercourse
> 
> You have chosen Desperation: Gabriel realizing how susceptible Lúcio is to his influence when drunk and showing off the danger that hybrids can pose – as opposed to Violence: How the scientist has been hurt by Genji.

Lúcio comes back into his little house feeling loose and a bit drunk and _very_ happy.

He keeps replaying in his mind the conversation he’s had with Jesse, and can’t help the dopey grin on his face. He’s sure Jesse is a lot less pleased about the whole situation; his face had been dark and melancholic still when they finally parted ways – but Lúcio can’t help but feel optimistic.

He hopes that the creature will show itself once more to Jesse. He hopes that they will be able to communicate with it without the interference of the research laboratory.

He hopes… a lot of things right now.

Lúcio can hear the water in Gabriel’s tank as the hybrid moves about the second that he notices the jangling of the keys. The dark voice suddenly coming over the speakers is… pretty creepy but Lúcio can keep from jumping.

“Someone happy.”

He instantly feels warm. He knows that there is nothing shameful about feeling the way he does, but there is also something weirdly intrusive about being pinned to the spot like this. He’s not even in Gabriel’s line of sight.

“You uh… can tell?”

“I can _feel_,” Gabriel says with a strange intonation that sounds put off. As if he can’t believe Lúcio would doubt him like this.

As Lúcio tries to push his shoes off without falling over, he hears the water in the tank sloshing.

“Gabriel?” he calls over, staring down at his socked feet. “Can I ask you something?”

The answer comes purred out of the speaker above: “Yes.”

“Can your kind be… venomous?”

He can practically feel the curiosity crackling over the speakers. He slowly begins taking off his jacket but pauses and leans against the wall when Gabriel says: “...Yes. Why?”

Lúcio swallows hard, a nervous little twist to his belly.

“I have met a friend today and he told me about an encounter he’s had… he’s got hurt and it is not healing yet.”

“If not dead yet… it no venom.”

Gabriel is getting better and better at stringing together correct sentences. Lúcio is, quite frankly, fascinated by his ability to learn the human language so quickly.

He is also vastly relieved that Gabriel has come to the same conclusion that he has.

“But why is the wound not healing?” he murmurs as he finally makes his way into the living room. He hasn’t really posed the question for Gabriel, but he is thoughtfully leaning his head to one side anyway, thinking.

He is already sitting on Lúcio’s couch, having crawled there the moment he seemed to have realized that Lúcio in a good mood would equal fun. His muscular arms are stretched out along the back of the couch and he crooks his sharp tipped fingers at the young scientist to beckon him closer. Lúcio, lost in thoughts, follows the gentle pull of the suggestion.

“Tell me about it,” Gabriel murmurs. Lúcio blinks at him as he slowly sits down next to the hybrid. Gabriel is smelling of the saltwater from the tank, but his skin is already dried from his crawl across the thick carpet. 

He rarely sits on the couch with Lúcio. Like this, side by side, Lúcio becomes very aware of just how _big_ the hybrid is.

Lúcio swallows hard and nervously plays with one of the many small braids of his hair. The alcohol is not helping; he feels like the room is tilting a little on its axis and his shoulder bumps into Gabriel before he can help it. Gabriel, as if it is normal, curls his arm around Lúcio’s shoulder and keeps him close.

“Well… there are… cuts. On his arm. They’re like… four days old? Five? They’re not bleeding anymore, but also not… y’know… healing.” Lúcio is frowning, his hand now at his chin as he pets his own goatee slowly in thought. “He said there’d been a black sticky substance on contact. It had vanished but is now re-appearing along the edges of the wounds…”

He is falling silent as he stares ahead, trying to think of anything similar from the animal kingdom, but nothing springs to mind immediately.

“Do you know what it could be?”

“No.”

The answer comes so quick and decisive that it immediately rings bells. Lúcio frowns and looks up.

“But-” the rest of his protest is stuck in his throat as he comes nose to nose with Gabriel suddenly. The hybrid’s dark eyes are boring into him with a single-minded focus that has Lúcio’s skin prickle as goosebumps raise along his spine.

The speakers above are quiet except for a soft static-like hum. It sounds like waves, almost.

Lúcio stares up at him, hyper aware of his own body and how his head wants to make his surroundings spin. He feels more intoxicated than he rightly should be.

It seems like a good idea to lift his hand and cup Gabriel’s cheek. His skin is cold to the touch; just short of clammy.

Gabriel’s mouth slowly spreads into a grin, showing off rows of sharp teeth. He looks satisfied for a reason that Lúcio can’t quite put his finger on. It is… difficult to think of anything other than kissing him, right now.

_Kiss him, kiss himmm, kiss himmmme._

_Kiss me._

Lúcio guides him down, eyelids heavy but not quite lowered as he gently kisses the hybrid. Gabriel’s mouth is wide and sensual and clumsy... but eager. It makes Lúcio wonder if hybrids do not kiss like this.

Maybe it is too awkward beneath the water to coordinate it with their breathing; or maybe it is just something they have never much considered.

His thoughts are feeling weird. He is just… floating, drifting, thinking of weird vestigial little things while his body moves on its own. He sits up and grasps Gabriel’s face between his palms, then gets impatient because of the awkward angle and just throws his leg across the hybrid’s lap so he can sit on it.

The crackling of the speakers above becomes a low, satisfied hum. Gabriel’s big hands are carefully curling around Lúcio’s hips, the sharp claws plucking at his clothes.

Lúcio bears down on him as he kisses Gabriel. He can feel something egging him on, making him more greedy for this as he should be. He feels tingly and jumpy, and stupidly elated by the fact that Gabriel goes along, tilting his head back and offering his mouth up.

It is by accident that one of Lúcio’s thumbs slips beneath the hinge of Gabriel’s jaw and against the soft, vulnerable underside of his chin where he feels the thrumming of vibration.

Without thinking, his hand slides over, curling around the hybrid’s throat. There is a hitch and a pause in the vibrations before they resume; stronger than before, lashing against Lúcio’s back, pushing him into what feels like a frenzy as his slick tongue fucks between Gabriel’s lips.

Gabriel is making sounds, humming and trilling at him, and Lúcio can’t hear it for a reason. He can feel it against his palm, but his ears are filled with the frenzied rushing of his own blood. He is so damn hard that he feels like his cock is going to break the fly of his pants open.

He’s getting rougher, forcing Gabriel to bend his head back so he can try to fuck the hybrid’s throat with his tongue, and Gabriel just… goes along with all of it. His thick thighs beneath Lúcio’s ass are gently slipping apart to let him get more comfortable. 

Lúcio, for how greedy and rude he is being right now, nicks his tongue on one razor sharp tooth, but the taste of blood only seems to feed into whatever is happening with him.

“Gabriel…” he tries softly against the needily kissing mouth of the hybrid. Gabriel is learning quickly, it seems. He tries to keep making out while Lúcio speaks, growling low and undaunted by the hand around his throat. He is a menace, and there is a vague sense of danger pervading Lúcio as he realizes that there is no way that he could ever fight against what the hybrid wants from him.

Gabriel wants to play. So they play.

He has managed to slide Lúcio’s shirt up, and something big and warm and utterly distracting is slipping against his exposed belly.

Lúcio wanted to tell him that this is not… they can’t _do_ this, but Gabriel is big and firm beneath him, leaned back relaxed into the couch as the overhead speakers make sounds like waves that crawl into Lúcio’s brain and make it difficult to think anything else other than to follow this creature’s every whim.

_Are the old folk tales true about sirens?_

Lúcio reaches down and curls his palm around the shaft of Gabriel’s erection. His nakedness hadn’t even quite pinged on his radar until now. Every time Lúcio had given it a little glance, it had looked normal enough, but now that he’s having it in his palm, big and silky and hot, he realizes that just like everything else of Gabriel’s in this form, it is not quite _human_.

He wants to pull back and have a look, but Gabriel is not letting him. The hybrid is fixated on his mouth and wants to keep kissing, so Lúcio just… goes along, fingers dancing along the slick shaft.

His own cock is pulsing in his pants, getting the insides humid and hot, and he finds himself having to fumble with the fly to let his dick out into the open because not letting it snuggle up to Gabriel’s cock seems impossible in that moment.

The humming and crackling from above recedes when he’s done, the pounding of his head calming down into something much more manageable. He hadn’t even realized how the agony had climbed until he followed the pull.

“You are manipulating me,” he whispers between needy kisses. He still has one hand at the side of Gabriel’s neck and is digging his thumb a little harder into the soft space under his chin. “You can’t do this.”

He wants to sound a lot sterner, but it is hard to focus on what is important when his cock is slipping against Gabriel’s erection and he realizes dimly just how big the differences in their sizes are.

Gabriel stops kissing him finally. He is panting against Lúcio’s mouth. His hips flex beneath him, bucking gently upwards with Lúcio sitting on him, and offering up his cock, trying to slip-slide it into Lúcio’s hand that is mindlessly cupping the slick shaft and holding it against his belly.

“You want it too,” the overhead speaker murmurs. There is a whiny quality to it somehow. The device against the side of Gabriel’s head blinks long after he’s already spoken, as if he is trying to say more but can’t make up his mind how to formulate it.

“You can _feel_ that too, don’t you?” Lúcio murmurs. His fingers dance up the shaft and encounter his loose foreskin. When he dips two fingertips into it, he can feel that it is soaked with more fluid, the tip unnaturally tapered for a human.

There are little round things at the underside of his glans that are silky soft to the touch and moving gently with Lúcio’s questing fingers. Gabriel whines.

Not the speakers overhead, but the hybrid in front of him. He could hear it this time; the thrumming, eerie quality of his voice, his throat expanding slightly as if unable to quite keep all those sounds inside.

It hits Lúcio deep in the gut. Somewhere primal.

“Please…” the speaker whines and Gabriel’s hands around his hips spasm.

Lúcio groans and leans back, glancing down. He gently tucks down on the foreskin and realizes that it is more like a sheath; it pushes down and down and down, silky and fleshy showing off two rows of suckers along the underside of the shaft the further it slips down.

Lúcio’s heart is beating fast and desperate. There is a _need_ in him that hits him unprepared.

“Just… this once…” he rasps. “We need to talk about… this. But…”

He curls his hand around both their cocks and squeezes them together. The feeling of Gabriel’s silky little suckers against his dick is… impossible to describe.

Lúcio goes a little cross-eyed at the sensation.

“Yes… yes, thank you,” the speaker murmurs, and Gabriel is lifting his head, looking at him with those big dark eyes… looking docile and sweet. Lúcio swallows hard at the feeling of _power_ that courses through him.

He has Gabriel sit nice and still while he works them over; moving his hips in twisting undulations, dragging himself against him and going cross-eyed at the feeling of more of that liquid being teased out of Gabriel like his cock is an overripe fruit.

He can’t help but wonder how it would feel to sit on his erection. Have those rows of suckers pop in and out of him. Have Gabriel pump him full of liquid… whatever it is.

Lúcio has no idea what he’ll do with the couch. It will be soaked after this. His head is so full…

“There you go, there you go,” he whispers heatedly against Gabriel’s open, panting mouth. “Sit nice and still… don’t- don’t move…”

His last words climb up as if it were a question. His body is hot and tingling all over as he keeps moving, fucking into his fist faster, the sounds wet and slick and nasty.

Gabriel has let go off his hips and instead is curling his hands against his chest, claws folded into his palms to make sure he doesn’t hurt Lúcio.

He might have weaseled his way into Lúcio’s consciousness, but he is not a bad man. Quite to the contrary.

Lúcio leans in, almost falls face first against Gabriel’s broad shoulder, and begins to mouth at the point of his jaw. They crest for a while on a plateau of good feelings; coasting along and panting, the overhead speakers making a weird little song-and-dance all on their own-

and then they crash and the resulting euphoria is making Lúcio feel like he’s blacking out.

Everything is nice and warm and… perfect.

.o.

Gabriel speaks with him while Lúcio is in the shower. There is a certain tranquil quality to his voice. Slow and lethargic despite the subject matter.

“He will not die. My kind powerful, though. I don’t know what will happen.”

“You never talked much about others. Are there a lot?”

“A few.”

Lúcio has to talk louder so Gabriel will hear him out in the living room but the hybrid’s ears are disconcertingly sensitive to sounds, so he doesn’t have to scream. He is frowning, thinking about the whole thing.

“What do you think will happen to him?”

“Don’t know. Depends on who he met.”

Wrapped in a bathrobe, Lúcio comes out, squinting at Gabriel.

“He said he had… long dark hair. And a scaled tail. Short, reptilian feet.”

Gabriel is coasting languidly in his aquarium. The black tentacles of his octopus body dark as ink in the water. It is as distracting as a lava lamp.

“Hmmm… what color?”

“Blue, I think…” Lúcio’s heart beats faster. Gabriel definitely knows something, then. “So you know him? There are more like him?”

Gabriel stretches and turns away, showing him his back, obviously bored with the conversation.

“No. Don’t know anybody.”

Lúcio frowns. He’s pretty sure that Gabriel is lying to him but he also knows that the hybrid can be stubborn as a mule.

Wordlessly he turns and makes his way into his bedroom. His head is still spinning from his night out with Jesse and Gabriel fucking around with his mind, and he has a lot to think about now anyway.

.o.

Out in the sea, Hanzo’s and Genji’s night only just begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The choices for the next chapter were:
> 
> 'Please decide on the relationship of the brothers:
> 
> The brothers are warm to each other – they communicate with each other about their days, making them more stable and grounded.
> 
> The brothers are cold to each other – they are more prone to fight and egg each other on. Genji will be relentlessly in search of the robot.'


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 6 – warnings: none
> 
> The brothers are warm to each other. It makes them more stable and less driven to pursue their individual goals at any means possible.

Hanzo and his brother hadn’t seen each other in a good few day cycles, and when he follows the soft, aching melody echoing through the sea, he is… rather disturbed to find his brother lying across a large rock, the usually vibrant green colors of his tail dim to a point of necrotic looking.

There is no sign of his new friend anywhere, which is almost more disturbing to Hanzo. All his warning bells are ringing, distracting him from his own troubled thoughts for the moment.

The human at the beach...

“Where is the thing?” he asks sharply, his tail flicking and propelling him to Genji’s side. “What has it done to you?!” His hands are brushing across Genji’s back and down his strong tail, looking for a wound. All he encounters is the slick oily film their kind is producing inside the water to shield them from little parasites.

The sorrowful little whining that had led Hanzo to this secluded spot deep on the bottom of the cave they call home, suddenly cuts off and Genji whirls around, hissing and slashing at Hanzo with his claws. Hanzo jerks his upper body back just in the nick of time, strong feet pressed against Genji’s hide, claws digging against the tough scales to help him propel himself away from his brother.

“He’s done _nothing!_” Genji hisses, the fins all over his body standing upright and prickly, not allowing Hanzo to get close to him.

Hanzo lifts his hands, one eyebrow lifted, and Genji seems to calm down after a moment of reconsidering his outburst. His face _does_ crumble a little, though, just before he lowers his fins again and turns back to drape himself once more across the rock.

Hanzo gently moves his tail, pushing himself closer yet again. He places one hand between Genji’s shoulder blades, not petting but just silently touching. When nothing comes forth, he says softly: “What happened?”

“Humans…” comes the miserable answer. Hanzo can feel his hackles rise. He immediately thinks of the humans that had tried to capture him – and, again, of that one male on the beach that had helped him get free against all odds.

He pulls his hand slowly away again from Genji’s body and moves around him. The water down here is cold and uncomfortable, and he’d rather be up in the warmer currents right now, but Genji likes the chill when he’s not feeling well.

“So the… thing was with the humans after all?” he asks softly, trying to peek into Genji’s face. Genji’s eyes snap up to his, his brows pinching in obvious anger. Instead of exploding again, though, he just relaxes once more and shrugs his shoulders.

“I dunno.”

“Where is it, then?”

Since the thing had appeared some weeks ago, it and Genji had been inseparable. Genji is always very proud of any little trinkets he finds, but this time he had been absolutely _enamored_ with the stupid thing, dragging it around everywhere he went and speaking to it as if it had any mind of its own.

He swore up and down that they were communicating but Hanzo had never seen any sign of actual intelligence in the thing. It creeps him out to be honest.

“A boat came and followed us for a while,” Genji says after a moment. “Like it knew exactly where we were.” Hanzo frowns at that, eerily reminded of his own encounter. Immediately the few raw welts in his tail begin throbbing ominously. However, Genji keeps talking and he focuses back on it.

“It kind of freaked me out and I tried to grab him and get away from them but there was this… this _pulse_ and it made me really nauseous and disoriented. And when I found my bearings again, he was floating up to the boat.”

Hanzo’s face goes dark and hard at that. He reaches out and fists a hand in Genji’s hair, forcing him to look him in the face.

“I knew this thing only meant trouble! It ensnared you and called the humans, Genji! Can’t you see?! They somehow… _used_ it to try and capture you!”

“No!” Genji’s face is dark, on the verge of transforming as he suddenly gets up from his slump and instead is perching on the stone, the sharp claws of his feet easily digging into the hard surface. “He was just as surprised as I was! He did not want to go!”

Hanzo sighs deeply.

“Genji…” he says a bit warily. He has let go of Genji’s hair the instant that his brother has shot up from his slump, and is now gently gesticulating upwards. “Let us talk in the warmth. You can tell me all about what happened then. In detail.”

Genji seems to calm down at that, though he keeps staring at Hanzo a little distrustfully.

“I won’t if you keep suspecting Zenyatta of trying to capture us.”

Hanzo’s eyebrows lift and he gently starts sucking air into the compartments beneath his scales to let himself begin to float upwards.

“Zenyatta?”

Genji, starting to follow him slowly, looks a bit sheepish.

Zenyatta. _Little fish_.

“It fits him,” he murmurs mulishly. He reaches out and curls a hand around the top of one of Hanzo’s sturdy feet to keep him from floating up further. “I won’t come with you if you keep suspecting him,” he says again, and he looks so serious that Hanzo pauses and finally nods. It is rare that Genji takes something to heart like this.

“Very well. I won’t suspect it. Him. Zenyatta.”

Genji nods and lets go of Hanzo. As they continue floating up, light starts to catch on their scales, and Genji becomes aware of the disarray of Hanzo’s usually immaculately groomed tail.

His mouth opens in a wide O of dismay and surprise.

“Brother! What happened?”

Hanzo sighs deeply. He can feel his face drawing taut with the memory of being caught in the net and having to accept a human’s help in struggling free.

“We will talk about this, too, Genji. But first… I want to hear what happened to you and your friend.”

.o.

Hanzo has to make an effort not to sneer whenever Genji speaks of the thing that he’s so taken a liking to.

For what it’s worth, Genji has fallen in love with the thing since first laying eyes on it – even if his little brother might not be aware of it himself. 

Genji is a lover, first and foremost; he might mistake his feelings for lust, but Hanzo can see all the little mannerisms that show that there is _more_. Something _else_.

“We’ve just been out around the reefs…” Genji says now. They are high up in their cave, lying on the stone bank, with their tails trailing in the slight current of the water. He is looking down at his claw slowly drawing circles in the algae growing like moss on the stone.

He still behaves so much like a little one. Hanzo frowns.

“Go on.”

“Well... Zenyatta hasn’t been himself for a day or so. He’s not moved much and made those weird noises every now and then. Like a hiss or something. I thought that bringing him to the reefs might cheer him up; he likes to watch how busy it is there.”

Hanzo makes an effort to sit up. Their physiology is not too suited for it, but it helps him to think when he is upright.

Genji does not comment on it. He is still scratching at the stone and the plants covering it, but his eyes are distant as he is far, far away, remembering.

“Nothing happened for a long time, though. He just kept… floating and making those weird sounds. He was not receptive to anything I said or did… until that suddenly changed.”

Hanzo looks at him, the gills at his throat flaring softly in an involuntary show of interest and focus. He realizes that Genji is speaking calmly but is still having an almost necrotic hue to his skin and scales.

His little brother is suffering.

“I don’t know what triggered it, but Zenyatta suddenly stopped hissing and began moving. It was like he came up from a deep sleep. He was disoriented and confused, but then he became… frantic. I have never seen him like this. He was squirming out of my embrace and grasping my arm so hard it bruised…”

Genji stops scratching and moves his hand instead towards his opposite bicep. He moves as if in a dream, slow and sluggish, eyes fixed on nothing in particular as he recalls the happenings.

And, as he said, there is indeed a bruise on his arm; a dark blue-ish black that is already starting to fade but definitely shows the shape of a hand.

“And I was so focused on him, I didn’t notice the boat until it was right above us… and Zenyatta started drifting up towards it. I grabbed him and pulled him back towards me. I started fleeing but the boat just followed us… like it knew exactly where we were the whole time. I swam as fast as I could but it just kept up. Then there was this… pulse all around us. It shifted the water. I’ve never felt this… disoriented before. I must have blacked out for a second because when I came back to, Zenyatta was almost up at the boat. He was stretching his arms out toward me.”

The last he says with bitter certainty. He slams a fist down on the ground, looking up at Hanzo with now sharp eyes.

“He did _not_ want to go, Hanzo.”

Hanzo just silently stares back at him; waiting and thinking. Wondering what all of this _meant_.

“I broke surface. There were two humans that I could see. I don’t know if there were more on the ship.”

He continues despite Hanzo jerking in alarm. “I tried to pull him back down with me but they’ve had some weird… things. Rods. They _hurt_. All I could do was kind of flail and let them shove me off of him. And then everything was done.”

Genji is pressing his lips together, looking down, playing with one of the rings he has donned on his fingers.

Hanzo sits quietly, thinking about the tale, head pounding with all the implications.

“It… _he_… has been sent by the humans after all.”

Genji flinches, looking at him in angry betrayal, but Hanzo lifts a hand to stifle his protests.

“I am not saying that he tried to deceive you. Maybe he did not have any other choice. I have never seen a lifeform such as him. But the fact remains that the humans were able to somehow locate him with disturbing accuracy and that he had no choice but to follow their call.

This is troubling, Genji. Maybe… maybe it is for the best that he is gone.”

Genji presses his lips together so they won’t wobble, and he turns away from Hanzo in a way that makes him think his little brother might leave him now to lick his wounds in peace.

Genji is a temperamental and surprisingly sensitive young man; a combination that is volatile in and off itself and that Hanzo has always had trouble managing.

He braces himself for Genji’s tail to flick water at him just to be petty, but it never happens. Genji does not flee from him to be in peace. Instead, he says with a rough voice and sharp glance at his tail: “What happened to you, then?”

Hanzo looks down at himself. He still feels… dirty, somehow. There are the phantom touches of the net the humans had caught him in, and the sudden reminder of the defeat he had felt for just a moment has his throat go tight.

He slowly reaches for one loose azure scale and plays with it. It aches when the sharp edges push into the raw flesh beneath where the net had slipped underneath the scales and dug into his skin, but it also helps to keep the renewed panic at bay.

“I was out scouting,” he tells Genji who is watching him with a tight expression. He finally plucks the scale from his tail. A new one would grow in its place. He almost flicks it away from him with the same negligence as one would throw the parts of an empty oyster, but Genji’s hand is out in a second, palm up and demanding.

Hanzo sighs and puts the scale into his brother’s hand. It is gone and tucked away into a pouch at Genji’s hips quicker than an eye could see.

“There was a boat but I pegged it as a normal fishing vessel. I did not pay it any mind and went about my business... yet, thinking back… they did vaguely follow me about. Their shadow seemed to always be over my shoulder.” He feels sharp annoyance at his own negligence. They had both underestimated the humans and paid for it dearly.

He sucks on his sharp teeth, the anger gripping him hard. He has to wrestle it down and inhale deeply, finding some semblance of inner balance before he continues with a rough voice: “Suddenly something had wrapped around me with too much accuracy to have been mere coincidence.

I struggled to get free as I was being pulled up. Just as I broke the surface, I managed to free my arms and slash at the ropes pulling the net. It was my luck that those ropes had not been of the same material, because otherwise I would not sit here with you now.”

Genji is staring at him with single minded intent. Almost a kind of fascination as if Hanzo was retelling a fable instead of his struggle for life. He can’t find it in himself to be annoyed with his little brother: it is simply Genji’s way.

Hanzo is thoughtful as he looks down at his hands, thinking about those few heart-stopping seconds as he had been struggling for his life. “When I fell back down into the water, I caught sight of weird little objects all along the hull of the boat. Silvery and round and… moving. I had never seen anything like them, so I destroyed them and fled. I must have done the right thing because they did not pursue me any longer.”

Genji shakes his head slowly. He looks troubled, as he very well should be.

Hanzo falls quiet, not quite sure whether he wants to relay how the rest of the day had ended. He thinks about that human once more. An idiot like the rest of them that had spoken to him in that weird language they have, clearly talking to him as if Hanzo were a spooked animal.

He _had_ helped him, at least… though Hanzo is still not sure about what had happened back there. In his mind’s eye, he can recall the way his poison had simply slithered into the human’s skin… absorbed as if it had never been there to begin with.

“Will you help me search for Zenyatta?” Genji suddenly asks, dragging him out of his thoughts.

Hanzo will keep the other part of his adventure to himself, just a little longer. He needs to… think about this – and Genji is too distracted by his own sorrow anyway.

He sighs deeply and put upon but nods anyway. “Of course…”

At least he can make sure Genji doesn’t do anything reckless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The poll for the next chapter had been:
> 
> 'Will we stay in the present to see where the brothers are going now?
> 
> Or will we go and see something from their past?'
> 
> If you want to know how to vote as well, visit my tumblr page (cyberrat) :)


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 7 – warnings: mild anxiety attacks
> 
> Rather than see something from the brothers' past, we keep in the present...

It had already been eerie to watch Genji interact with Zenyatta… but it is even more eerie to watch him make his way through the dark sea, eyes half closed, following some scent or… marker that only he seems to be able to decipher.

He moves with a pinpoint accuracy that eventually has Hanzo reaching out to grab the end of his tail and halt their silent progress through the water.

Genji turns, looking at him in confusion, and Hanzo blows out a slew of bubbles in exasperation.

“Where are you going?”

Genji turns to swim on the spot in front of him. He looks impatient and like he thinks Hanzo is going insane.

“To Zenyatta.”

“But how?” Hanzo can feel his skin breaking out in prickling goosebumps. Genji is staring at him quietly with dark eyes that seem bottomless here where little light reaches from the surface. Hanzo’s breath starts freezing in his lungs until finally Genji’s pale face twitches into a sad little smile.

“I gave him a few of my scales,” he admits eventually. He is looking down at his hands which he is wringing in front of himself like a child. Hanzo’s heart skips a beat at the admission but he forces himself to calm down. This is not important. Not now.

(It is very important. Anxiety makes him nauseous for a second.)

“We will talk about this,” he tells him sharply, but the little glance Genji throws his way is very telling in that he thinks they won’t. Hanzo has a habit of letting Genji get away with a lot of shit. But not this time. 

“Go,” he hisses, annoyed, and Genji is off again like a swarm of little silver fish; fast enough that Hanzo has to work to keep up with him.

At least this explains how sure Genji is about where to go. He can feel his scales in this… this thing’s possession like they are still attached to his own body. Hanzo just hopes that Zenyatta won’t have the same affinity to them as their species does. 

They would lead the thing – and by extension the humans – to wherever Genji would be. There would be no place to hide; no way to escape.

Genji, you utter fool.

He feels like he has failed his brother. Like he should have been there to prevent the disaster… but it is as it is now. There is no point in lamenting the past.

He forces his rapidly beating heart to calm down, focusing on the flick and glitter of Genji’s deep green tail to keep the encroaching darkness at the corners of his vision at bay.

.o.

When Genji finally slows down, Hanzo had been about to reach out and snatch him back. It had looked like Genji would strand himself full force on the sandy shore. 

The water here is so shallow it is still warmed from the sun’s rays even though it has long since gone down.

They’ve never been much in these waters. The humans are very busy here; so when Genji suddenly breaches surface, Hanzo has a knee-jerk reaction of calling out that he should be careful. Instead he presses his palm across his mouth and closes his eyes, breathing deeply to keep the anxiety down. When the water rushing through his gills in slow, even drags has calmed his pulse, he follows to where Genji is swimming on the spot, slowly pushing his head through the water.

While Genji is out to far past his shoulders, Hanzo only peeks out enough to see what is going on.

There is one of the buildings the humans live in; it is sprawling and severe looking with sharp edges everywhere. In the light of the slowly vanishing moon it looks stark white like a skeleton.

“He’s in there,” Genji whispers. His body next to Hanzo’s is almost vibrating. 

He suddenly jerks forward, hands out to dig claws into the sand and pull himself on land. Hanzo is there in a second, fisting the fin low on Genji’s back to hold him back. It is a low blow but at least finally has the young man hissing and snapping out of whatever trance he had fallen into.

“What?!” Genji snaps so aggressively that Hanzo almost flinches back. He keeps a sharp grip on his brother’s fin, feeling the fine bones bend to the point of almost snapping until Genji howls and twists to get him off of him.

“What the Hell are you trying to do?” Hanzo asks calmly while Genji looks close to crying at the pain, reaching back and holding the fin that he carefully stretches out again.

“What are you talking about? Getting him back, of course,” Genji says, voice tight and expression even more so.

Hanzo stares at him blankly, then slowly pushes his head back out of the water and peers at the sprawling structure.

“How?” he reiterates. “It has a fence all around it.”

“I’ll change to legs and just-”

“And what? Waddle your way in, demanding for that thing? You’ve barely put an effort into learning how to walk, Genji. They would grab you and cage you. We stick out like sore thumbs. We do not possess any clothes, and humans are very particular about those.”

He speaks calm and analytical, but when he smoothly slides back beneath water and sees Genji’s absolutely gutted expression, he grows quiet.

They hover awkwardly in the shallows, Genji finally letting go of his fin and just staring down at his webbed fingers.

Hanzo pulls a face, feeling like he has to say… something, but also knowing that he is spectacularly ill equipped to comfort someone.

“I… am sorry. For what it’s worth,” he says stiffly. Genji doesn’t answer. His body is swaying slightly on the spot like the pull of his scales is almost physical.

“There has to be something we can do,” he says softly, and Hanzo shakes his head.

“Short of having a human contact, we can’t do anything, Genji. Going up there would be suicide.”

He reaches out but pulls his hand back awkwardly before he can touch Genji’s bicep.

“Listen. Just… forget about it. I know you were close to Zenyatta, but this isn’t… this isn’t worth your life, Genji.”

“You know nothing,” Genji hisses bitterly. There are tears in his voice, though the water makes it impossible to see them in his eyes. He bites his lip sharp enough to lightly break skin. Hanzo can smell the blood trickle immediately in the water.

Genji’s hue, having become stronger on their way to this God forsaken part of the sea, wilts before Hanzo’s eyes. His lips become bloodlessly pale, bright green scales turning a muddy brown as he sinks down to perch himself on the sand, looking like absolutely devastated.

Hanzo slowly lowers himself as well, quietly taking a place next to his brother. He doesn’t know what to say to make this any better on him.

He doesn’t know if there even is anything to say.

He just quietly sits and places his hands folded together over his lap, head lowered as he listens to Genji’s deep, obviously pained breathing. It… it hurts himself, too. He’s never seen his brother like this. Genji’s pain is almost palpable.

He looks like he could die from getting his heart broken, and the thought has anxiety clench like a fist around Hanzo’s heart. He wants to know if their kind can die from sorrow, but there is nobody he could ask. It’s just the two of them. Just Genji and him.

When he speaks, it takes him by surprise himself.

“I met a human the other day. Maybe he would help.”

Genji’s head snaps around, staring at him. Hanzo doesn’t think he could be more dumbfounded about this revelation than Hanzo could be about having offered it up in the first place.

He groans and puts his face into his hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The poll for the next chapter had concerned itself with two possible branches, both of which would eventually be dealt with...
> 
> Either Lúcio meeting Zenyatta or Lúcio talking to Gabriel about what happened between them
> 
> As well as
> 
> Either the meeting between McCree and the brothers from McCree's POV or from the brothers' POV


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> warnings: Hanzo's permanent anxieties
> 
> Rather than having a look at Lúcio's life first, we keep following Hanzo and Genji's adventures...

Hanzo tries not to let Genji’s morbidly horrified expression get to him as they swim next to the huge boulder sticking out of the water. It is marking the place where he had tried to wriggle his way out of the net and had met the human who had miraculously helped him a few nights ago.

“A… human touched you,” Genji says eventually, his face lightly twisting as if he wants to look disgusted but also tries not to. He looks Hanzo up and down, and seems to float a bit backwards.

Hanzo just stares at him with a dark expression.

“They helped me for some reason,” he reiterates primly. Genji’s face twists again. He stares at Hanzo, then peeks out of the water and around. When he comes back down, he asks: “And… how will we contact the human?”

Genji knows even less of humans than Hanzo, but there is an aura of eagerness about him that is at odds with how he acted just now. Hanzo has the feeling that he is very, _very _excited about meeting a human, and not entirely for the prospect of getting his Zenyatta back.

It is at least better to see him with a bit more life again. Genji not flitting about is something that scares Hanzo to the core, and he hadn’t even known it.

“I am not sure,” he admits gruffly and lightly moves his tail to push himself upwards so he, too can peer out of the water towards the wide beach to the side of the steep cliff. There is a wooden structure on it, and Hanzo is more or less sure that the human had come out of that direction, though he hadn’t noticed him fully until he had been almost upon him.

Genji moves restlessly. Hanzo knows that it will be only seconds before he starts to whine so he reaches out and squeezes his shoulder.

“Just… stay back and let me try something.”

To his surprise, Genji does slightly move back, happy to watch – for the moment – how his brother is planning to catch himself a human, apparently.

Hanzo is not happy with any of this. He wishes he had thought before speaking such a promise, but Genji’s condition had put him between a rock and a hard place, and he’d always had a habit of just blindly running forwards if put under pressure like that.

He scowls and moves to the boulder sticking out of the water.

.o.

Genji watches with interest as Hanzo moves to the stone they had been more or less hiding behind since coming here. Hanzo curls his arms around it as if hugging the thing, digging his nails into the hard surface as he breaks surface and peers out over the beach dotted with humans.

As Genji watches, he twists his tail until he has lifted the tip over the water.

Genji has promised to stay back, but… well. He’s curious. Hanzo will understand, right? He quickly slips closer and puts his hands on Hanzo’s shoulders, using his brother to push himself up and out of the water as well, watching the happenings above the surface.

Hanzo hisses, bubbles popping up in front of his submerged mouth, but he does not push Genji away, as was expected.

He waits. It is not something Genji is particularly good at but has tried to work on since meeting Zenya...tta. The thought makes the ache in his chest flare up and his smile slowly slides off his face. He presses his lips together, watching as Hanzo carefully twists the tip of his tail outside the water, his scales catching the rays of the sun and reflecting them.

He hopes it’ll work. He hopes Zenyatta isn’t… scared or anything. Though he can’t quite imagine it. He’s never met anyone as calm and centered as Zenyatta. He misses him dearly.

Minutes pass. Genji has no idea what he is supposed to see. He digs his claws slowly into Hanzo’s shoulders until his big brother suddenly jerks – but not to push him away.

“Someone’s coming!”

Genji blinks, heart leaping in his chest as he peers over the beach. It takes him a little to realize that there is, indeed, one of the humans running along the sand.

“Is it the human?” he asks breathlessly. Hanzo slowly retracts his tail back into the water.

“It is _a_ human, at least,” he murmurs, sinking himself back down until only his eyes are peering over the water’s surface, his hair fanning out like algae behind him and around Genji’s throat. “Get back. Try not to alert them to your presence,” Hanzo says sharply, and Genji obediently lets go of him, pushing himself a little back but still peering out of the water just like his big brother is. He wants to see the human. He wants to know if it is the one that has… helped… his big brother.

.o.

Hanzo’s pulse is racing as he squints over the beach. Their eyes might be very good beneath water, but above he finds that he is rather… nearsighted. The wind blowing dries them out too quickly and he finds himself blinking again and again to try and keep track of where the human is.

Anxiety twists in his gut. What if it is not the same human? What if he is luring another one to them that is a lot less benign? He can feel the waves Genji is making behind him, barely an arm’s length away. He wishes he had gone alone, but Genji had tagged on like a little cleaning fish.

When the human starts to slow down, apparently unsure whether Hanzo is even still there, he slowly lifts his tail again, lightly twisting it in the space above the water’s surface. That gets the human moving again.

Hanzo digs his claws harder into the rock, chest pressing against the cool, wet surface, trying to wrestle down the sharp twist in his belly.

Only when the human starts climbing over the rocks littering the shore on this part of the beach does he recognize the stature of the human as being the same man from back then.

He automatically squints at his arm where he had slashed him, but it is wrapped in some kind of colorful bandages, preventing his view. The fact that he is still alive makes Hanzo wonder about whether humans are… immune to their toxins. The thought chills him to the bone.

There is a moment where the human is standing on the beach, his dark eyes searching the waters as he pushes his headgear slightly back to presumably see better. Genji is hanging on to Hanzo’s back, peering out around the boulder with him, seemingly just as fascinated by the sight of the human as Hanzo is.

They both had never really made room to just… watch those creatures. Whatever they had seen were just confusing glimpses of attackers. This human does not seem too… threatening, really. He is wearing very little; just some short bright red covering over his legs, and something to protect his feet. There are no weapons on him as far as Hanzo can tell.

Finally, when the human looks like he is about to lose interest, Hanzo reaches up and digs his claws into the boulder, dragging himself up smoothly until his powerful feet can find purchase on the stone surface and keep him aloft.

He feels horribly exposed outside of the water but… they don’t have any choice, do they?

The human looks startled. His face goes slack as he stares at Hanzo appearing like that, and Hanzo keeps his hands down, pressed against the top of the boulder to show his intention of not harming him. He’s not sure if the human understands, but he does not start screaming or running. He stands there, his broad chest heaving, and watches.

As Hanzo looks back, he notices that the human’s skin is darker than his own. He looks weathered from the sun. He also seems to possess some kind of… fur where Hanzo and Genji are quite smooth, but he can’t be too sure of that. It’s difficult to see clearly at this distance, even though it is just a few meters.

The human slowly lifts the arm with the colorful bandages. Hanzo watches him calmly.

“Hey there!” he calls. He has a weird twang to his voice that Hanzo had noticed during their first meeting as well. It makes it a bit difficult to understand him, but their words are... largely the same.

Hanzo tamps down on the immediate flare of nervous energy, the past rearing its head for just long enough for Genji to suddenly push himself in front of the boulder and show himself as well, gaping at the man who, in turn, stares back at the two of them with his mouth slowly hanging open.

“You speak our language!” Genji says in an almost accusing tone. Hanzo numbly stares down at his head. He should grab him and pull him back again, but all he can think is ‘have you forgotten, Genji?’.

The human, in turn, just says: “There’s _two_ of you?!”

Silence stretches out. Hanzo glances towards the other side of the beach, and, realizing that he is way too exposed throning on the boulder as he is, he lets himself fall back down into the sea.

In order to talk to the human, they have to get closer to him. Already realizing that – or just brimming with curiosity – Genji is already on his way, digging fingers into the rocky sand and dragging himself up on the shore until he is almost stranded. The sight has Hanzo’s heart racing and he scrambles to follow suit so he can push Genji back into the sea in case the human becomes hostile.

However, he just… stands there looking. His ruddy skin has become a good bit paler as he looks down on them. He moves suddenly – quick enough that all fins along Hanzo’s body flare out in defense – but he just seems to have lost agency over his legs because he plonks down onto his heels first, and then onto his ass.

“I’m… this can’t be real,” they hear him muttering as he reaches up with a wildly shaking hand and pushes the headgear back so they can both see his face better.

“What’s your name, human?” Genji asks, eager. Always curious.

The human just blinks at them.

“Whu…?”

“Do. You. Have. A. Name,” Genji reiterates more slowly, a frown appearing between his brows as he throws Hanzo a little glance. Doesn’t the human understand them after all?

“Ah… uh… name… yes… aah… Jesse. McCree. Just Jesse, it’s a long… story, I mean…”

Hanzo’s face darkens and he slaps his chest with one hand sharply to shut the babbling up.

“Hanzo,” he says, then slaps Genji’s shoulder. “Genji.”

The man nods slowly. Finally, he seems to be regaining his footing and calms down, though his dark eyes are still wide and disbelieving.

“I… alright. Hanzo… and Genji. I’m jus’... I didn’t think y’all spoke my language.”

Hanzo scoffs.

“Maybe you are speaking _our_ language,” he says scathingly, even though he knows this not to be the case. However, he doesn’t like the human to think too highly of himself.

Jesse does not react to the sharpness in Hanzo’s voice. He just nods slowly. He leans forward some, curling his arms around his knees. Hanzo stares at the bandages around his forearm again. He wants to reach out and tug them away. He wants to see what is underneath. He still remembers very vividly the sensation of the human’s… _Jesse’s_ skin splitting like ripe fruit beneath his claws as he’d slashed at him in panic.

“...been the one I met.”

Hanzo is jerked out of his thoughts by the ensuing silence. He blinks and realizes that both Genji and Jesse are looking at him. He just scowls, having no idea what is happening now, and Jesse, seemingly realizing that, reiterates: “You’ve been the one I met… right?”

“Ah. Yes. You discovered me after my unfortunate run in with some hunters.”

There’s another awkward pause in which Genji digs his elbow into Hanzo’s side. Hanzo glances at him; they usually don’t need to talk in order to understand each other, and eventually he sighs and says ill-tempered: “I am grateful for your… assistance.”

Jesse smiles slowly. It changes his whole demeanor, somehow. His shoulders relax and he seems less likely to just up and run.

“You’re welcome.”

Before anything else can transpire, Genji suddenly blurts out: “We need your help, Jesse.”

Hanzo bites the tip of his tongue, but in the end he has to concede that he couldn’t think of a more elegant way to ask as well.

Jesse, to his credit, does not bumble around this time. He frowns and scratches a hand through his weirdly colored hair, staring at Genji, though his gaze keeps trying to flinch to Hanzo. He doesn’t trust them; or he doesn’t trust Hanzo. Which is fair enough, probably.

“Help you?”

“My friend got kidnapped. And you need to get him back for me.”

Hanzo can see where in Genji’s world that makes sense, but Jesse blinks slowly and inhales deeply.

“Alright. Just… Could you tell me more? A… friend? There’s three of you?”

Genji winces.

“No… not exactly… my friend is not like us, he’s more like you… with legs, that is. But he’s also _not_ like you. But he’s gotten taken by _people_ like you. And where he is now, Hanzo and I can’t follow. But I need him back.”

Hanzo’s gills flare on a soft groan. He can just about keep from slapping a hand across his face, and instead throws Genji a dark stare that makes his babbling brother shut up. He looks a bit embarrassed at least.

Jesse, predictably, shakes his head.

“I don’t understand a word. But uhm… I’m just a lifeguard. I can’t do jackshit.”

“What is a lifeguard?”

“I look out for people so they don’t get hurt while swimming,” Jesse says patiently enough, popping a thumb over his shoulder to the rest of the beach where only a couple more humans are visible.

He then croaks out a weird sound that comes again and again until Hanzo realizes that he is laughing. Genji and he throw themselves glances while Jesse slaps a hand across his face and shakes his head.

“I can’t believe this shit,” they can hear him murmur into the cup of his palm as he slowly opens his eyes again and stares at them once more; first Genji and then Hanzo, whom he keeps an eye on, eyes flinching to Hanzo’s hands, fingers dug into the pebbles of the beach.

“I don’t understand a thing,” he says again. Genji lifts his tail and slaps it down into the water in agitation. The motion has Jesse sit up straight in alarm, his wide mouth set into a tight line. He might look reasonably calm but he is on edge just as they are.

“We need your help!” Genji reiterates insistently; as if Jesse had any obligation to assist them.

Jesse, predictably, shakes his head.

“I’m sorry, pal. I am… I need a bit for this to… sink in, okay? And I still don’t understand what it is you want from me. I just need…”

“Time,” Hanzo says calmly.

“But we don’t have-” Genji starts, his fins bristling. Hanzo reaches out and puts a hand on his biceps to try and calm his agitated brother.

“Genji. It is not an unreasonable request. He doesn’t trust us. And we don’t trust him.”

“I can explain it better,” Genji offers, his voice trembling like he’s close to tears.

Jesse’s face contorts at that; something weird and complicated going on in him before it smooths out and he begins to stand.

“Listen’. I gotta get back to work. But I’ll return at sundown and we can… talk more. I wanna hear what you gotta say. An’ I wanna ask some shit.” His eyes flick to Hanzo at that.

Genji looks like he wants to reach out and grab his ankle; keep him from walking away, but he keeps calm for once and nods slowly, head turning to look to Hanzo as well.

Hanzo inhales, his hand still on his brother’s arm.

“Very well. We will be here.”

They watch him move towards the large rocks separating one part of the beach from the other, but before he can start crawling over them, he pauses and looks back.

A moment later, his long legs have taken him back to the shore where Genji and Hanzo are half stranded. His sudden return has both of them bristling in alarm.

He shakes his head, arm outstretched towards them.

“I’m… sorry, really. I know this is inappropriate but… can I touch one of you? I just… can’t believe you’re actually real.”

Both of them pull faces and he immediately drops his arm again, nodding to himself.

“Yeah… uh… sorry. My bad.” He stays there, staring at them wide-eyed. Hanzo tries to see them from his point of view, but it is a bit difficult to imagine. Eventually he sighs put-upon and starts to rummage around in the little satchel on his hip. He unearths one of the glowing rocks he has stashed in there and extends it towards the human.

“Here. As a kind of… peace offering.”

Jesse outstretches his hand again, mouth open in a soft ‘o’. Without touching him, Hanzo lets the pebble plop into his open palm.

“We will wait,” he tells him again, talking slowly to make sure Jesse understands. He throws Genji a short glance, and they both turn and pull their way back into the safety of the sea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The choices for next chapter were...
> 
> We stay with the brothers as they talk through the situation and comfort each other (Shimadacest)
> 
> We see how Lúcio is faring, still very much occupied with what happened between him and Gabriel


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> warnings: incest; sex
> 
> Rather than looking towards Lúcio, we stay with the brothers to see how they cope with all the stress and uncertainty....

Genji has reached back and grabbed a hold of Hanzo’s wrist, pulling him along until the water got colder again and they felt more at ease. They huddle next to another large boulder in the water.

Genji does not let go of him which Hanzo is grateful for. He needs the skin-to-skin contact with his brother right now.

“Do you think he really will come back?” Genji asks softly. He is pushing right into Hanzo’s space until he has him all but pinned against the boulder. He is agitated, but Hanzo can’t figure out what has caused it. There are so many things, really.

“Yes,” he murmurs. It is the truth; he _does_ think that this Jesse will come back, though he doesn’t know where he is taking the confidence from.

Genji is still holding his hand but with the other he is touching Hanzo’s face now. He is obnoxiously close, his movements a bit erratic as he seems to just need to touch and feel Hanzo. They are not so different in this, at least. They don’t have anybody else, after all.

Hanzo lets him touch, and in turn allows that touch to calm him down so he can gather his thoughts. Talking to a human like this had been exciting but also frightening, and even though Genji would never admit to it, it is clear that he, too, has been shaken to the core.

“So you trust him?” Genji murmurs. He is starting to relax again from whatever had him so freaked out, his fins slowly lying back down against his body.

Hanzo thinks about that, gently squeezing Genji’s fingers. After a long moment he nods slowly.

“I suppose I trust him as much as a human can be trusted. But likewise I also trust him that when he says he can’t help us, he is saying the truth. I had not stopped to consider whether it even is in his power to gain access to this place they are keeping Zenyatta in.”

He is thoughtfully looking into the murky darkness just over Genji’s shoulder, almost missing how his brother’s face falls at the that.

He sighs deeply and reaches up, cupping Genji’s jaw and dragging his thumb against his cheekbone.

“We will first listen to what he has to say,” he assures. When Genji pushes himself closer to tuck his head beneath his chin, he lets him do so, even if it makes him feel a bit awkward. He’s not the best at giving comfort.

He slowly brushes along his little brother’s back, making sure to not aggravate that sensitive fin he had been treating so harshly earlier.

“We’ll find a way somehow, Genji. We just can’t be too hasty. I am sure Zenyatta wouldn’t want you to endanger yourself over this.”

He is speaking slow and careful, trying to get through to his brother. Genji is listening to it, at least. He even nods along, but Hanzo can never be too sure about what is going on in that mischievous head of his. Genji can be saying one thing all while doing the whole opposite.

“And what’s with you?” Genji murmurs against Hanzo’s collarbone. He can feel himself shudder just from the feeling of his lips moving against his skin.

“What… do you mean?”

Genji pulls back just enough to look into Hanzo’s face up close. He is pressing against him, their bellies sliding against each other.

“You’re very…” he is looking for a word, one hand dancing through the water as he searches for the appropriate way to describe Hanzo. “You’re more nervous than usual,” he finally settles on. “What are you so scared of?”

Hanzo bristles, immediately wanting to deny to be scared of _anything_, _ever,_ but Genji’s intelligent eyes are way too perceptive and way too focused on him right now. There is something a bit scary about being the sole point of interest of Genji’s for once.

He looks away to the side and drags a hand across his face.

“Meeting the human has just had me spooked, I suppose.”

Genji makes a soft, melodic sound. Hanzo can feel himself relaxing against the boulder behind his back. He watches Genji lean in and doesn’t defend himself against the kisses he presses against his cheek all sweet and affectionate, before staying close enough to let a few bubbles tickle his skin.

“I don’t think you’re telling the whole truth,” he sing-songs, and kisses him again, and again, slowly wandering towards Hanzo’s mouth. Hanzo wants to protest, feeling disturbed by how perceptive Genji is these days. He shakes his head slightly, pressing against Genji and pushing him slightly away, but Genji thwarts him by entwining their tails and making Hanzo bear both their weight. There’s a fierce kind of determination in Genji’s gaze when he leans in again and presses his mouth against Hanzo’s, all but forcing his way inside.

Hanzo’s gills flare, precious air leaving him in his surprise as he grabs at his little brother’s shoulders. His heart starts beating faster; he hadn’t been expecting Genji to do this, and the lack of mental preparation has him lower his guards and just… go along with it.

Genji’s tongue is slippery and quick against the soft insides of his cheeks. It makes a kind of hunter’s lust flare inside Hanzo’s chest that he has to tamp down on quickly before he bites before thinking.

“I think…” Genji breathes when he pulls away, the little bubbles from his mouth tickling Hanzo’s lips and nose, “That I should try and tease it out of you in that case, don’t you think?”

Hanzo doesn’t know what Genji is talking about. It’s so difficult to just… _think_ for a second when Genji is all over him, touching and kissing and being the little flirt that he always is.

Hanzo’s body jerks when he feels the easy slide of Genji’s fingertips along the tight little seam of his cloaca. He almost flails, but manages to dig his claws into the stone before he can accidentally hurt his brother.

“Genji!” he hisses, scandalized. His body feels immediately hot and interested, closely followed by shame trickling down his spine. This was neither the right time nor place…-

“I’m nervous,” Genji says and immediately ducks his head to push his face against Hanzo’s neck as his fingers keep up their slide against the silky skin of his cloaca, teasing the edge of one nail against the seam; trying to ease it open for him. “And I’m bad at waiting. Just… let us have some fun, alright?”

Hanzo shakes his head, but he can’t find the energy in himself to push his brother away. Genji is latched onto him like a leech; tail wrapped around him, keeping him close and trusting Hanzo to hold the both of them up.

He’s as obnoxious and infuriatingly endearing as always, and in the face of this comforting constant, Hanzo can’t find it in himself to push him away and tell him to behave.

So he closes his eyes and exhales, alerting his little brother to his capitulation. Genji immediately nips at the hinge of his jaw with just a bit too much enthusiasm, but it’s okay.

Everything is okay just for now.

.o.

Genji has teased his cloaca open and is gently fucking him on just a couple of his fingers. Slow and easy to not nick him with his own claws, all while peppering Hanzo’s neck with loving little bites.

It is… driving him insane.

The slight stretch and burn as him feel so antsy; like he has to do something. It’s filling him with a whole different kind of nervous energy that makes his whole body ache. He whines long and slow and melodic, and Genji reacts to the sound aching against his body by becoming a bit rougher still with Hanzo’s little opening, thrusting harder. Deeper.

Hanzo’s gills are fluttering. He tries to pull enough oxygen into his lungs but whenever he almost gets there, Genji twists his hand and digs his knuckles into the tender rim of his cloaca’s opening, and everything goes nice and still again in his head. Breathing seems impossible.

He doesn’t even realize his cock has slipped out until Genji is gently palming it; all careful and slow there like he isn’t with Hanzo’s cloaca, voice teasing against his ear as he croons: “Don’t pull it back now…”

It wouldn’t be the first time that Genji went too fast and hard and startled Hanzo into retreating his cock back into his body. The knowledge makes him flush warm despite the cool water surrounding them. He is not exactly proud about being like this.

Genji trills. He is completely in his element and having a _blast_. The sound of it is vibrating against Hanzo and has his hips jerk despite himself.

“There you go… that’s it,” Genji croons. The touch of his own cock is slippery and alien and so very very good.

It is as impetuous as its owner; curling itself around Hanzo’s cock as much as possible and squeezing at him lovingly. He can feel the flared little tip touching him; latching on like a little leech.

His whole body is pulsing hot and thick and fast.

Genji’s face is right in front of him; grinning and eager but also flushed. He’s wrapped so much around Hanzo… It’s like he wants to crawl right into his older brother. Like he couldn’t bare to not have him close.

The thought warms Hanzo’s core, and settles something that had been nervous and agitated for a long time now.

He’d thought that Genji would no longer want him now that he’d fallen so hard for Zenyatta, but… At least for now he is still clinging to his big brother; still rutting and needy and trying to somehow squeeze a hand between their bodies to keep fucking Hanzo’s cloaca while his cock is squeezing at him so tightly.

Slowly, Hanzo lets go of the boulder behind him. Genji digs the claws of one hand into the stone instead, keeping them both from just drifting away or sinking to the bottom.

It is Hanzo this time who curls his arms around his younger brother and holds on tight for the ride, pressing his face against his shoulder.

He squeezes his eyes shut. He kind of wants Genji to slide himself a little lower; to let his sleek, cheeky cock slip into the tight clench of his cloaca and make it burn just so good… but he also doesn’t want him to give up the tight clench around his own dick. 

“Oh, brother…” Genji whispers breathlessly from above, an eerie lilt to his voice that makes something behind Hanzo’s eyes pulse and ache in the best of ways. “I’ve missed this… I’ve missed you…” He pushes Hanzo away with a hand at his hip, and just like that he takes the decision upon himself and lets the flared little tip of his prehensile cock kiss up to Hanzo’s cloaca.

Hanzo reaches down with a whine lodged in his throat and helps by spreading the tender, silky edges of it wider; give him more room to work with as he starts to nudge his way inside his brother’s channel.

In his mind’s eye, the human suddenly flashes up. Hanzo finds himself wondering even just for a second what Jesse’s genitalia would be like. If it would be anywhere near as nice as Genji’s sleek little dick wriggling its way inside him and pushing against all those good, good places that make his body light up and his fins flare with excitement.

Shame over the thoughts swamps him, right up until Genji whispers heatedly against his temple: “You’re thinking of him, aren’t you? Don’t you ever wonder about them, brother? Don’t you ever want to _play_ with them?”

Genji bucks against him, forcing himself deeper. He is not moving much... but his cock is; squirming and wriggling and making Hanzo all but vibrate; distracting him from wondering what Genji must have felt or seen from his thoughts to so accurately respond to him.

Genji kisses at him. Bites at him. His body is overbearing, pressing Hanzo against the boulder, crushing him until he has to retreat his cock from between their bodies. It doesn’t matter; it’s just as good without it outside.

“I want to know more of them,” Genji tells him heatedly. “I think this Jesse can be fun. I think we just need to try!”

Has this been Genji’s goal from the beginning? To make him drop his defenses so he could pose this ludicrous, dangerous thought?

It’s too difficult to keep his thoughts together with Genji fucking him like this; deep and intrusive and making his cloaca burn so good with the slight stretch it has to go through. He’s reaching so, so deep…

It makes Hanzo whine, the sound going through Genji like a hot knife.

They are clinging to one another, shaking, slowly starting to drift after all as Genji lets go of the boulder and they rut and trill and jerk through their orgasms.

Hanzo keeps his eyes closed. He feels… calmer. More settled.

“Are you going to tell me what worried you so much?” Genji mutters eventually. He sounds a bit lethargic after breeding his brother, but the fact that he put effort into asking means he actually _does _care.

Hanzo slowly shakes his head, still holding on while pumping air into the little pockets lining his tail so they won’t drift to the bottom like stones.

“It’s alright, Genji. You don’t need to worry yourself over this.”

He would try and _make_ it alright. It was his duty as the big brother. Father always said so.

_You have to protect him, Hanzo_.

He shakes his head slightly, annoyed at how much he is thinking of his family today. Sojiro is no more. Mother is no more. There is only Genji. Only Genji and… him.

“It will all work out, Genji. I promise.”

.o.

A fair bit away, as Genji and Hanzo stay tightly entwined, whispering to each other, Lúcio makes his way into the lab of his colleagues in search for a special disc he’s let them conduct research with.

When the lights flare on in response to his presence, he nearly screams out loud at the sight of a human-like skeleton hanging from thick cables, lifeless and ominous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Options for the next chapter were...
> 
> We focus more on Lúcio's thoughts concerning what happened between him and Gabriel
> 
> We focus more on Lúcio meeting Zenyatta for the first time


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> warnings: none
> 
> Rather than have Lúcio focus on the past and what happened between him and Gabriel, he focuses on the present and his new encounter...

Lúcio’s heart is racing, the scream stuck in his throat. He presses his fist against his chest and closes his eyes, taking a deep, settling breath.

“Holy… shoot,” he whispers eventually, his spine slowly curling as he relaxes. He’d been so deep in thoughts that suddenly seeing Louis and Miller’s robot has freaked him out badly.

He hadn’t even known they had called it back in for maintenance.

He shakes his head, then his shoulders and limbs to get the shock out of his system.

“Good thing nobody’s seen me almost pee my pants over a robot boy,” he mutters as he rubs at the back of his neck, then inhales deeply one last time and calls out louder, just to make sure, “Hello? Miller?”

The lab remains deserted. They must be out somewhere for lunch.

He glances at the robot again. It is in the back of the room, hanging off of thick cables, feet dangling just-so off the floor. It’s all long, thin metallic limbs in hues of dark blue.

Itt feels lewd staring at it hanging there naked and vulnerable, so he glances away after a moment and towards the workstations of his colleagues.

He should just get what he’s come for and then move out. The whole feel of the place is unnerving and seriously mucking around with his vibe.

It’s dead silent in here, other than his own lab where music is constantly running. It reminds him of how interested Gabriel had been in the beginning whenever Lúcio has brought… any sound at all with him, really. The silence is enough to drive a man insane, he supposes.

Ah… Gabriel...

Their relationship had been a bit… strained as of late. Specifically, as of that particular night.

Lúcio might have been… avoiding him. There haven’t even been any movie nights, even though both of them had enjoyed them very much before the… accident. He’s a bit scared to try and pretend like everything is fine, if he is being honest.

Maybe Gabriel would not want to drag himself out of his tank now to sit next to Lúcio and watch with curious annoyance what kind of shit humans got up to.

Or maybe Lúcio would just sit stiffly next to him, hands in his lap, barely daring to breathe because suddenly it feels like all those months he’s spent trying to get to know Gabriel have never happened.

He doesn’t know which option scares him the most.

It is true that Gabriel had apologized in his own gruff way, and had not approached him again with… ah… intent, but...

Lúcio can’t help but be hung up on the whole experience. The more he thinks about it, the creepier it becomes – how easy it had been for Gabriel to curl into his every thought and twist them until Lúcio could have sworn – sworn! – that they had been his own in the first place.

He stands there, lips pressed into a thin line, thinking about how good it had felt to have Gabriel underneath him; and yet how unnerving it had been coming back up from the trance the hybrid’s voice had lulled him into.

The robot is still in his peripheral.

Lúcio is hovering by Miller’s desk, unmoving; wondering why he is so hung up on the robot. It takes him a bit to find the cause – the robot is headless. He doesn’t know why he hadn’t noticed that earlier.

Lúcio swivels slightly to look at it again, and it is true – the most disturbing part of the creation is missing: its weird as Hell octopus head.

He has no idea what Louis and Miller have done with it, but it’s good riddance as far as he is concerned. Something about the thing had just been… off right from its conception. It had looked like a bad puppet that had slowly started to rot away in the liquid it had been suspended in.

Lúcio shakes his head and drags a hand across his face. This is not important. It is not his project… yet, at least.

He turns back towards Miller’s desk, pushing papers and datapads aside to look for the disc that he needs back...

“Can I help you, Sir?”

Lúcio snatches his hands back from the table, sucking in a sharp breath through his teeth as he does so. His pulse, which had been starting to slow down after his scare from earlier, has ratcheted up once more, pulsing rabbit fast at the base of his throat as he looks to his right where the voice has come from.

“I’m sorry,” the voice says… and nothing more. Goosebumps crawl up his spine and settle tickling and prickling at the base of his skull.

He slowly pushes a box to the side and flinches back when there is a decapitated head staring back at him. He makes a high, pathetic wheezing noise in lieu of a scream – there is no breath left in his lungs for more.

It’s two heartbeats before his brain finally kicks back in and tells him that the thing is not human and is, in fact, in all likelihood the missing head of the robot.

Just as its body, the head looks shockingly naked without the creepy fake octopus that Louis and Miller had used on it. It’s an improvement in Lúcio’s opinion. It looks docile like this... with two slitted optical sensors at a sweet, almost sleepy angle.

He finally, slowly inhales and reaches behind himself, pawing for a chair and letting himself plop into it when he finally finds one. His knees are like jelly. 

“Ah,” he says because there really isn’t much more to say, and no other words are flying around his head at that moment.

“Sir.”

The voice is surprisingly deep, and very gentle. It definitely comes from the robot’s head.

Lúcio blinks slowly, goosebumps rising all along his forearms.

He stares at the head, gathering his scattered wits, then says slowly: “You can talk now?”

“Yes. Although my AI is still learning.”

“Wow,” Lúcio exhales softly, a sense of wonderment and confusion settling deep in his belly. That, and acceptance. He wonders if Alice had felt that way after falling down the rabbit hole: just a sense of vague delight and bafflement where she should have been completely out of her mind with fear.

Shaking off his stupor, he leans further in, hands clasped between his knees, pulse calming down. He can deal with this, at least. Robots are a lot better than say… ghosts and stuff. “That’s awesome, man.”

He’s talking to a lone robot head and it feels just… exciting. The good kind of exciting. The kind he felt when first starting here after he had been approached by the organisation; a humble musician just out there trying to get by.

“So I have been told by Mr. Louis and Mr. Miller,” the head answers placidly. “They are very proud of me.”

There is a moment of silence in which Lúcio tries to figure out what seems so off (other than.. you know… the obvious), but the robot continues before he can put a finger on it: “I am sorry to have scared you so much. It was not my intent.”

Lúcio laughs very softly, shaking his head.

“Uh. Yeah. Don’t worry about it. I’m just pretty nervous these days, I guess…” This is all so surreal… but he’s loving it. He slowly reaches out for the head.

“May I?”

“Certainly.”

He very carefully grasps its cheeks – surprised at how warm the metal feels against his palms – and gently lifts it a bit closer so he can see it better in the light.

He leans left and right, watching it from every angle. The faceplate is as easy as they come; no particular expression or articulate features; just two slits for the optical sensors and a gold chin that looks like it can be opened up for ease of access to the insides.

Lúcio slowly leans back after having looked his fill.

“I hadn’t even known they had called you back in.”

The robot doesn’t answer to that. Lúcio feels like there is an almost… sullen edge to the silence. Again, there is just this little bit of loose thread that is niggling at the back of his mind.

“I am surprised they decided to make adjustments now after we have made contact…” he continues softly, thoughtfully, one hand at his chin, rubbing at his goatee as he thinks about it.

In his peripheral where the body has been hanging absolutely motionless, an arm twitches violently. Lúcio’s head jerks towards it, but as he watches, the body hangs limp once more. Not even a slight swing of momentum.

What the...

The robot speaks again, distracting him.

“Mr. Louis and Mr. Miller have realized that my old face has started to rapidly lose its allure, so they decided to risk losing the specimens in favor of fixing some aspects of it.”

Lúcio has no reason to doubt the robot. As far as he can tell, they have installed a rudimentary intelligence that is able to learn and accordingly react… he doesn’t think that it would have learned to lie already. Absolutely fascinating.

“So they’ll put another face on you?”

The head hums placidly. “I do believe… if you were to look behind me…”

Lúcio’s eyes flick obediently behind the head to even more boxes. It takes him a bit to catch the glint of glass behind one of them.

“Oh?” he murmurs, leaning up and over the head of the robot to push the box to the side. Behind it, the octopus head comes to light, swimming innocently in its fishbowl as if it hadn’t been the star of some of Lúcio’s nightmares the first few weeks after seeing it.

Though… he has to admit… this one is a vastly superior version. It looks a lot less like it is about to rot, and a lot more... lifelike. Its stubby, chubby arms are perpetually moving while its glass eyes stare at him.

“Damn!” he exclaims and stands to have a better look at the whole thing. The body moves like a gelatinous mass without the metal head to fill the mask. “That looks good! It’s way better than the last one…”

“Thank you,” the head answers softly. 

He looks his fill just a few moments longer before murmuring: “I didn’t know they’ve planned so many adjustments. I knew that Miller had been debating on whether there should be some, but...”

“Mr. Louis and Mr. Miller are still working on me,” the robot interrupts calmly, then adds: “But yes. Many adjustments indeed.”

There is a weird… lilt to the gentle cadence of the robotic voice; almost like… amusement or something. Lúcio huffs another soft laugh, staring at the unmoving metal face.

“So… uh… Your targets… the specimen… they can talk?” he asks softly. Wouldn’t hurt to try and get a bit of information out of this. He wonders if the targets that they have been observing all this time are the same that have made contact with Jesse. He is still trying to figure out the mystery of his wound.

The robot does not answer immediately. Lúcio almost feels like it is taken aback by his question.

“I don’t know,” it says eventually and falls quiet again.

Lúcio sighs. He would have loved to find out more about the hybrids that they have sighted. He’s only ever seen slightly grainy videos without any audio.

He thinks about Gabriel again briefly; how taciturn he had be in divulging even a little bit of information about any other hybrids living out there.

The thought of Gabriel waiting for him at home sobers him up immediately. He shakes his head and steps back, dragging his hands against his pants. He should just grab the disc and leave and not fuck around with Miller’s work – though he has to admit that he very much likes the adjustments he has put into motion.

“This is brilliant. I didn’t know about any of this,” he says while starting to root through the debris on the desk once more.

“Mr. Louis and Mr. Miller are very secretive,” the robot confirms, and Lúcio can’t help but feel like he sounds a bit… anxious or something. He shakes his head, frowning, pushing yet another piece of paper to the side.

He should stop putting so much of his own thoughts and feelings onto what amounts to be an object.

“May I ask what you are looking for?”

“Hmn… a data disc. It’s got ‘sample mix volume 3’ written on it.”

“Ah. I might have seen it in Mr. Louis’ desk. In the upper left drawer…”

Lúcio makes a soft sound of surprise and turns. He feels calmer now that all the scares are over and done with. The body dangling in the back of the lab doesn’t even ping as creepy anymore now that he’s gotten used to it.

He pulls the drawer the robot mentioned open, and pauses at the sight of all the little gadgets inside; a little tube that a thin, advanced looking net is hanging out of; a slew of little sharp blades. Vials of liquid that he doesn’t even want to touch.

Louis has always been the kind of crazy mofo that Lúcio never wants to deal with. There’s just something supremely unpleasant about him.

“Hmm… no… it doesn’t seem to be here,” he says out loud, carefully nudging just a few of the safer looking things to the side.

“Ah. I see…” the robot says after a drawn-out moment of silence. “Maybe it is- ah. I think I am seeing it. Right here on Mr. Miller’s desk. Beneath that pink slip of paper? Yes… Yes, there exactly.”

.o.

Just as Lúcio is about to go, the robot pipes up again. His voice sounds strangely faint.

“Sir. May I ask your name?”

Lúcio pauses, surprised at the question, but gives the answer willingly enough.

“Lúcio. And yours?” He asks back without really thinking about it. He drags a hand across his face.

“Nevermind. Sorry, It was just a refl-”

“Zenyatta.”

His brows shoot up. He had not thought that either Miller or Louis would be sentimental enough to name their creation anything other than a slew of numbers and abbreviations.

“Um… alright then. Have a good one!”

He waves jauntily with the disk he’s found, then slips out, thoughts already back with Gabriel. He should talk to him again. This… limbo they were currently in did not sit well with him.

He makes his way to his lab without any detours. He had been hungry as a bear before going there but now his mind is just... full. Too busy to think about stuffing his face.

He just sat down at his desk when his phone goes off, his face lighting up some when he sees that it’s Jesse.

“Hey there, Jesse! Everything alright?”

“Hey buddy… uh yeah. I just… wanted to talk to you.”

.o.

Back in the lab on the other side of the facility, Zenyatta sighs softly. He had hoped showing the kind young man that drawer would garner a bit more of a reaction.

“Oh dear… However will this all end.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poll for the next chapter was:
> 
> Jesse has the option to tell Lúcio about his meeting with Hanzo and Genji, potentially helping them out big time – but with the caveat of breaking their trust by bringing another human without telling them first.
> 
> What should he do?
> 
> Tell Lúcio
> 
> Don't tell Lúcio


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> warnings: pain; little bit of angst

“You got time after work?”

Lúcio frowns slightly at the scratchy note in Jesse’s voice. He slowly says: “Suuure…”

“I uh… I saw… them... again. You know who I mean.”

Lúcio feels simultaneously excited and a creeping feeling of trepidation. He slowly stands, heartrate spiking.

“Oh. Wow.”

“Yeah. Uh… Listen. They want somethin’ from me and I have no idea what to do. Maybe you wanna come over and…”

.oOo.

Jesse’s heart is thumping a mile a minute as he makes his way to the rough part of the beach with Lúcio at his side. Part of him hopes that he’s just had a stroke or something and made all of this… mermaid-y business up. The other part really doesn’t want Lúcio to think he’s gone crazy and put him into some kind of asylum.

He has to help Lúcio crawl over the large rocks, and then they are standing on the shitty part of the beach that nobody wants to deal with, staring out over the grey water and fiddling with flashlights because it’s getting pretty dark pretty quick these days.

“They, uhm… they said that they’d be around…” he says awkwardly. 

Lúcio is practically buzzing at his side with energy; he’s asked him three times by now to confirm that they really had spoken his language. For some reason he seems to think that that is the most interesting part of all.

He takes it all in stride.

Jesse stands there, wiping his hands against his pants and wondering what the hell has gone wrong in his life that he’s standing on a beach waiting for mermaids to show up.

He is so focused on staring at the waves crashing against the jagged rocks, the ache suddenly flaring in his wounded arm catches him completely off guard.

He squawks out an aborted sound of pain. His flashlight thumps to the ground as his fingers spasm. He grabs at his forearm, fingers digging into the sleeve of his jacket as pain shoots from the slashes up his arm and radiates through his body.

Lúcio is at his side in an instant. Jesse can feel his hand pressing between his shoulder blades in concern, but can’t make himself move an inch. He’s sure the kid is asking him what’s wrong, but all air has left his lungs in the wake of the fire eating up his body. 

He’s reeling, struggling to come to terms with being fine one second and in agony the next. While he does have experience with sudden cramps, this pulsing, angry burn is something out of another world. The ache is all encompassing and impossible, radiating out from his forearm, and swallowing him up until his knees give way and he falls down to the beach, sharp rocks digging into his shins.

Lúcio is calling his name, arms around his shoulders. Jesse ignores him, clawing at his jacket to push the sleeve up and get at his skin. Within seconds he is ready to just gnaw his arm off simply to get this _pain_ to end.

He doesn’t think he’s ever felt like this before, the burn of the wound eating through his body white hot and furious. It’s what he thought he would feel when Hanzo had first slashed at him weeks ago, tainting him with the inky substance from his claws.

Was he going to die now?

.o.

Genji has never seen Hanzo as furious as when they had realized that Jesse had brought another human with him.

Hanzo’s hand is curled around Genji’s wrist, trying to drag him along and away from the beach.

“Hanzo!” Genji cries out in alarm, stemming himself against the pull, tail working furiously to not just get dragged behind his older brother. “Calm down!”

“He ratted us out, Genji!” Hanzo hisses back. He is all teeth it seems, fins flared sharp and pointy everywhere on his body. He knew they shouldn’t have trusted a human. He had let Genji lull him into a false sense of security until even he had put his hopes into this man that they had only spoken to once.

What an utter fool he had been.

“We have to flee,” he commands, but Genji is still moving against his pull, winding himself like an eel as he tries to get free. He only manages to have Hanzo’s claws dig into his skin until thin tendrils of blood start to curl through the water.

“Hanzo, wait!” Genji calls again, bubbles of agitation spilling out of his gills.

When the scent and taste of Genji’s blood hits Hanzo’s palate, he finally pauses long enough for Genji to pull out of his grip, nursing his hand against his chest.

“We need to hear him out first,” Genji says, voice pitched down soothingly. “It’s just one other human, Hanzo. He doesn’t look threatening.”

Hanzo is seething. He looks almost deranged with anger, and Genji thinks that he would be following along with his demand if he weren’t so dependent on Jesse right now.

He turns to peer through the water again. The second human looks to be a good head smaller than Jesse. They don’t have anything on them as far as he can tell. How… dangerous could it be?

He swims a little bit closer to the rock sticking out of the water close to the beach. Just earlier he and Hanzo had been so engulfed into one another; mating against its cool, hard surface, and now…

He expects Hanzo to protest, but when Genji glances back, his brother is just hovering there in the water, fins still flared, tail lashing in agitation. He looks ready to strike as fast as an eel.

The back of Genji’s neck prickles. He turns back and sees through the agitated surface once more to see that the humans have crouched down at the beach. Something seems to be the matter. He carefully drags himself up along the rock until his head breaches the surface, peering at the two.

Darkness is setting in fast, but that is no issue for Genji; he can see them well enough, even above surface as he is.

Jesse’s face is contorted. He seems to be in pain.

“What…?” Genji whispers. He feels the water move behind him, and as he turns, Hanzo has come a bit closer. He looks marginally more calm, though still calculating and angry.

On the beach, Jesse slowly unfurls the tight clench of his body, face drenched in sweat.

.o.

As sudden as the pain had come, it had stopped again.

Jesse is panting, curled over his arm and trying not to vomit. Lúcio unearths a bottle of iced tea from the pocket of his big jacket, and Jesse gladly accepts it.

The nausea retreats with the liquid going down his throat, and by the time he pulls the mostly empty bottle away from his lips, the pain has already retreated into a vague memory. His body remembers well, however, and his limbs are not quite obeying him yet.

“What _was_ that?” Lúcio asks, hand rubbing small circles between Jesse’s shoulder blades. The other hand is fiddling with the flashlight, clicking it on and shining it against Jesse’s chest so he can peer into his face.

Jesse just shakes his head. How the hell should he explain that his weird mermaid wound has started to burn like Hellfire incarnate?

A shock of green swimming next to the boulder takes his attention and saves him from having to try and explain himself. It’s already pretty dark, but the hair is almost luminous. He exhales in relief – he is not crazy – and jerks his chin towards it. Lúcio turns with a frown to follow his stare.

He stands slowly as he sees… something, and turns the flashlight towards the boulder. Jesse can hear his sharp intake of breath when he spies the eyes bobbing above the waves, Genji blinking at them owlishly due to the sudden bright light.

The light of Lúcio’s flashlight follows those same eyes quietly as the hybrid begins moving, slowly dragging himself up over the water with help of the boulder. Cool trepidation trickles down Lúcio’s spine as he sees how easily those claws are digging into concrete stone.

Eventually, the hybrid is perched on it, a long emerald tail curling around it twice before trailing down into the water. Lúcio has seen him multiple times before, but the visuals had always been grainy and did not do his beauty justice.

“Genji,” Jesse calls over, still crouched low and trying to gather his strength. “Where’s Hanzo?”

The young hybrid’s face screws up tight, his eyes flicking to Lúcio. He answers the question with another question: “Who’s that?”

He looks unhappy, which is… understandable, Lúcio supposes. They had not thought that Jesse would bring someone else with him.

Jesse finally has himself back together enough to stand up on shaky legs. He drags a hand across his face, inhaling deeply. “Lúcio. A friend of mine. I think he could help you out.”

Genji’s face is still tight. He looks skittish; like he’s just one wrong movement from throwing himself back into the water and fleeing from sight.

“Who else have you told about us?” he calls over, eyes flicking between Jesse and Lúcio. Jesse lifts his hands to swear his innocence, but Lúcio steps in front of him.

“I know of your kind,” he says, shutting Jesse up immediately. “Even before he told me about you.” Jesse stares at his back quietly; he can feel his stare like a physical thing. Lúcio ignores him, though, and continues: “I am working in a marine institute not too far from here. He said that I might be able to help you.”

Genji keeps on the defensive. He slowly lowers himself a bit once more while it becomes darker around them. He is hugging the rock against his chest like a lifeline.

“I don’t know what that means…”

Lúcio shakes his head. He tries to keep the flashlight steady despite his shaking hands, while he racks his brain for anything to say that would make himself more trustworthy in the eyes of the hybrid, but it is… difficult.

He lowers his flashlight a little to not blind Genji as much, though the way his eyes start to glow green in the dark is rather… unnerving. “That is not important for the moment. I can explain it to you later, if you like. But… Jesse told me you guys needed help.”

It is surreal to speak to Genji – to even know his name – after weeks and months of… spying on him via the robot. The grainy pictures they got could never measure up to the real beauty of these creatures – or just how long they really were. Just from the looks of it, Lúcio would estimate him to be a good four meters from the tip of his tail to the top of his head.

Genji doesn’t answer immediately. He looks sullen and unsure, but is obviously interested enough that he hasn’t fled yet. He seems cautious like a cornered wild animal.

“Can you understand all the words I’m saying?” Lúcio tries to change tactics a bit and break the ice. Jesse is relegated to a quiet bystander, his dark eyes scouring the dark water all around the rock. Where was Hanzo?

Every now and then he feels like he can see the eerie ice blue glow of eyes through the agitated surface of the sea, but they’re always gone so quickly that he can never be quite sure of them.

Genji looks affronted, brows drawing together.

“I’m not stupid,” he calls over, sullen like a little kid, and Lúcio nods quickly, lifting his free hand placatingly.

“That’s not what I was… you know, you’re right. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply anything.”

Genji makes an impatient sound. Fed up with Lúcio’s tip-toeing around the issue, he calls over: “My Zenyatta has been stolen. Can you help me get him back?”

Lúcio makes a soft sound before repeating: “Zenya…tta.”

The feeling of deja-vu hitting him is like vertigo. He’s only heard the name that very day.

Could it really be?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poll for next chapter was...
> 
> Should Jesse and Lúcio rather go to the lab to try and find out more about the scratches
> 
> or
> 
> Should Jesse and Lúcio rather go to Lúcio's place so Jesse and Gabriel can meet


	12. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> warnings: none
> 
> Rather than go to the lab to try and find out more about the scratches, Jesse and Lúcio will make their way to Lúcio's home to meet Gabriel...

Jesse makes a soft sound of annoyance. What the hell was a Zenyatta? He had thought they were looking for a… human. Or a person, at the very least.

“I… I have met him. Just earlier today.” Lúcio sounds so surprised, one hand lifting and pulling two dreadlocks over his shoulder to play with; a nervous habit that Jesse is already familiar with

So it is a person? This Zenyatta?

Jesse is relegated to a bystander as Lúcio’s admission visibly shocks Genji who physically reels back, mouth moving as he seems to be looking for words.

“He is where I am working,” Lúcio explains, and Genji slaps his hands against the stone like an excited child. His whole demeanor changes just with that one declaration. Jesse and Lúcio flinch as Genji all but catapults himself into the water. He’s gone for but a split second before he reappears close to the surface approaching quick as an arrow.

There’s a weird feeling twisting through Jesse’s body witnessing just how fast they can move in the water. This knowledge paired with his hands on experience of their sharp claws is… very unsettling. Sweat breaks out along his spine just trying to remember the impossible ache from before.

Behind Genji, Jesse is absolutely sure he can see the dark foreboding shape of another creature in the water. Is it Hanzo? Why is he not showing himself?

Genji breaks out of the water right in front of them, his fingers digging into the pebbles and sand to pull himself up onto the shore a bit. The sight is giving Jesse the creeps – it’s like watching a sea monster emerge. Genji smiling so wide and showing off impossibly sharp teeth is… not helping either.

He slowly steps closer to Lúcio, ready to grab him by the back of his cloak and pull him out of the danger zone.

“You have seen him?! How is he?!”

Genji looks like he wants to reach out and curl his hand around Lúcio’s ankle. Jesse’s hand lifts behind Lúcio’s back, fingers slowly grasping his cloak, but not yet pulling.

Lúcio, not paying attention to it, nods slowly.

“I’ve seen him. He is… doing well, I think. He’ll soon be back with you.”

The water is so loud. It is difficult to understand Genji asking for confirmation. Jesse’s eyes flick back up towards the sea. Why is it so _loud_? The water does not look particularly disturbed, the wind hasn’t picked up as well.

His fingers slowly go lax again, arm sinking back down to his side. He begins to zone out of the conversation.

Jesse should have felt proud about being the instigator of all this problem solution, but instead he just feels… weird and achy and empty. He lifts his flashlight and slowly lets it swipe across the water.

The rushing of the sea seems to become louder and louder, slowly drowning out the voices of Lúcio and Genji until all Jesse can hear are the waves crashing against the shore. The ache inside him grows, slowly encompassing him. It’s different to the pain from before, yet equally upsetting.

He wonders where Hanzo is. Why has he not shown himself?

His flashlight finds the dark spot a few feet behind Genji. He is sure eyes are watching him, calm and predatory, and the ache inside him _flares_.

He needs to get in there. Dip down into the cool water, and let it soothe the burn.

A hand clasping his arm tightly and shaking him has him jerk out of his trance. He almost lets the flashlight fall to the ground. His head swings around, feeling as if on a creaky hinge.

He mutely stares into Lúcio’s confused and worried face, then to his hand clenching around the flashlight and at last back to the water where the light of it is flicking against the waves. Genji is gone. They are alone once more.

“Jesse? What is up with you?”

Jesse slowly shakes his head. He realizes that he’s been in the process of taking a step towards the water, and slowly puts his foot back down before Lúcio can see it. Cold trepidation and fear trickles through his body, sweat making his skin feel clammy and sticky.

He does not feel right. In fact, he feels a bit feverish; like he is getting sick.

“Ah… it’s nothing. I just… it just was a long day. Where’s… Genji?” He speaks like he is drunk, his tongue not really obeying him. Lúcio’s grasp on his arm becomes tighter when Jesse tilts towards the water as if drawn to it by strings.

Lúcio reaches around him and gently pries the flashlight out of his hand.

“He’s gone. I’ll tell you later. You… don’t look too hot right now. Come…”

He gently tugs and Jesse, for lack of a better alternative, just turns and follows like a puppy.

.o.

“He seems… sick,” Genji murmurs, peering towards the beach where Jesse is moving on unsteady feet as he follows after Lúcio.

“Good,” Hanzo hisses next to him, ever vindictive. He grasps Genji’s arm and pulls him along not unlike the pair of humans on the shore.

.o.

“Jesse…? I’m going to show you something now, alright? Don’t be scared…”

Lúcio tries to put on a brave face but he’s feeling pretty scared himself looking at Jesse’s pale, clammy face. Jesse is a rather… robust man, and he’s never seen him anything but perfectly fine and on top of his game.

His behavior on the beach had been… erratic and concerning.

“What do you mean?” Jesse murmurs. He sounds like he has a mouth full of cotton candy, but is visibly trying to pull himself together. During their walk through the city he had multiple times tried to turn around and walk back towards the water, but whatever that had been seems to have washed out of his system at last.

As Lúcio watches, he drags his hand across his face, blinking rapidly until his eyes look more or less lucid.

“You’ll see,” Lúcio answers softly. He doesn’t know how to explain Gabriel to him. He also doesn’t know how to explain Jesse to Gabriel, but today seems to be a day of firsts, and Lúcio has always believed in ripping off a bandaid as fast as possible.

While Jesse clumsily pushes his boots off his feet, they can hear the water sloshing about in the other room. Gabriel already has realized Lúcio is not alone, and Jesse, freezing in his movements, seems to come to the same conclusion.

He turns towards Lúcio as he rights himself back up, mutely staring at him. Lúcio nods and grabs his forearm, gently pulling him along.

“Gabriel,” he calls as he rounds the corner into the living room. “I brought a friend.”

.o.

Jesse is not prepared for the sudden static raining down on them from the ceiling. He instinctively ducks down before realizing that it is only noise. Lúcio’s hand is like a vice around his forearm, aching but grounding at the same time.

He doesn’t let him flee, even though that is (embarrassingly) his first instinct.

When Jesse finally looks up, he feels his stomach drop at the sight of the huge aquarium with its equally big occupant.

It’s like stepping into a horror film. While Genji and Hanzo have been disturbing to see, they still had an eerie beauty about them with all their twinkling colors and scales. The creature in the aquarium on the other hand is all long black tendrils that move like hair in the water.

“Holy shit,” he finally exhales. He lifts a trembling hand and drags it across his mouth, the sound of his palm rasping over his beard strangely grounding. He can feel himself trying to flinch away and look elsewhere, but has to force himself to keep staring at the creature that is slowly moving in the water, its contours shifting constantly. It looks more like a shadow than anything else.

The screeching static from above suddenly stops.

Only in the absence of sound does Jesse realize how his head had started to feel ready to burst like an overripe melon.

“What is the meaning of this?” the voice is deep and menacing and sends goosebumps skittering down Jesse’s spine.

Lúcio slowly lets go of Jesse’s forearm and advances towards the aquarium.

“This is Jesse. I told you about him before.”

The agitated motions of the creature’s tendrils slow down somewhat. It’s dark eyes size Jesse up from top to bottom before it a scoffs, a slew of bubbles rising from gills along his ribs. Jesse feels... surprisingly self-conscious.

“Thought he’d be bigger,” the voice from above murmurs. The dark eyes of the creature snap back to Lúcio, fixing on him like a predator. “I’m stronger than he.”

Lúcio clears his throat, visibly flustered. The pounding headache Jesse suffers increases minimally.

“Buddy,” he croaks, voice a bit weak and scratchy. “What the Hell…?”

Lúcio nods as if to himself and turns around towards him, one hand pressing gently against the glass of the aquarium.

“I said that I knew their kind even before you, didn’t I?” He lightly drums his fingers against the glass while Gabriel moves up against it, fingers curling around the upper edge to slowly pull his human upper body out of the water. Jesse can’t help but notice that the guy is _ripped_. There are scars everywhere, and he looks murderous with his shorn hair, but the longer Jesse watches, the more he has to admit that he, too, is handsome.

The creature – Gabriel, that’s what Lúcio had called him – does everything with a slow dramatic quality that creeps Jesse out while Lúcio visibly thinks it’s cute.

“I knew him beforehand,” he continues when Jesse doesn’t say anything. “We had a couple hybrids at the institute before. I took him home when we realized that he was going to die in the other environment otherwise.”

He pauses there, staring at Jesse as if willing him to understand something, but Jesse feels nauseous and achy and just beat up in general from the long day. He can’t make his brain function.

“Oh man…” he groans eventually. He wonders if he looks as exhausted as he feels as he makes his way over to one of the armchairs and plops down into it.

.

Jesse’s not freaking out. So far so good. Lúcio starts to slowly relax all those muscles that had tensed up in his body.

Gabriel is quiet, just watching the both of them, his face set in a tight scowl. Lúcio has no idea what he is thinking at that moment, but he can’t help but wonder about his behavior just before. Had he been jealous of Jesse? The thought makes him weirdly happy.

“So what is it with the…” Jesse awkwardly motions up towards the ceiling.

“Ah! Yeah, that was… that was probably freaky for you,” Lúcio says with a small, nervous laugh. He hooks his foot into a stool close by and pulls it in to stand on. He still has to reach up a bit to very lightly tap against the panel slowly blinking just above Gabriel’s right ear. “I had to implant this to form his brain waves into speech, so to speak. It’s… more complicated than that, of course, but it’s the gist of it. The speakers just function as his mouth.”

He gently cups Gabriel’s cheek in his palm while glancing up into his face. Gabriel holds very still, his dark eyes boring into Lúcio’s. He looks very attentive.

“We hadn’t known hybrids were able to speak like humans. Their vocal cords are generally oriented towards a different range and quality of sound. Though maybe it is just Gabriel? It’s really cool, if you think-”

“Please not now, buddy. My head is already about to burst,” Jesse groans. He leans forward, elbows on his knees, fingers digging into his long, messy hair.

Lúcio blinks at him and slowly pulls his hand away from Gabriel’s face.

“Ah shit. Sorry. Do you want some painkillers?”

Jesse hums, obviously trying to gather his thoughts when the speakers on top come to life again, the deep voice eerie yet with a strangely flirting quality.

“You are one of us. One of my kind.”

Lúcio immediately turns, watching Gabriel in confusion, just to see him sniffing the air, hands tight enough around the edge of the aquarium glass that it looks like his sharp nails will make it shatter any second now.

When he lowers his head again, his eyes are fixed unblinkingly on Jesse.

Jesse looks equally confused as Lúcio.

“What?” Lúcio eventually asks. Gabriel’s eyes keep on Jesse, something like a sadistic grin spreading on his face.

“He is one of us. From the sea. A _hybrid_, if you will.” He speaks the word with obvious distaste, then just looks smug and satisfied in the face of their confusion. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Polls for the next chapter were...
> 
> After trying to get information out of a deliberately obtuse Gabriel, we should focus on...
> 
> McCree/Hanzo
> 
> Gabriel/Lúcio


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rather than focus on Lúcio/Gabriel, we decided to see what Hanzo/Jesse are up to later in the chapter...

“What the Hell is that supposed to even mean? What… what is he talking about?” Jesse is standing in the blink of an eye. Lúcio can see spots of agitation crawling up his neck. He usually is such a relaxed guy, but even Jesse obviously has his limits.

Lúcio lifts his hands in defence.

“Calm down. I don’t know either.” He turns towards Gabriel, his blood pressure rising when he sees his smug expression. He likes stirring drama entirely too much.

“What are you talking about?”

Gabriel swims away from the immediate front of the tank and starts to coquettishly slide behind one of the large structures within that are to give him protection if he wants to hide for a bit.

“Just what I said,” comes the purring answer from above. Lúcio does not want to get excited goosebumps from it but his body is trained to respond to Gabriel’s voice like a dog.

He inhales sharply.

“That’s no answer and you know it. Why would he be ‘one of you’?”

Jesse is coming closer now. Lúcio wonders if he realizes how he is clasping his left forearm tightly.

Gabriel is not answering, just watching them from behind his boulder, his whole demeanor screaming satisfied feline. He loves having their attention (Lúcio’s… attention), and he loves being obtuse.

“He smells like the sea,” comes the answer from above, and Jesse makes an impatient sound that Lúcio has never heard from him before. There is a vein swelling at the side of his neck as he stares into the tank.

“Of course I do! I’m a goddamn lifeguard!”

Gabriel’s smile widens.

“If you say so,” comes the crooned response from above. Lúcio balls one hand into a fist, then makes himself relax again. What a brat.

“Jesse, listen. This is not helping,” he says, turning towards him, very aware of Gabriel staring at him eagerly; waiting for more attention. He reaches up and curls his arms around Jesse’s biceps, steering him away from Gabriel and ignoring the dissatisfied growl from the speakers when the hybrid watches him touch Jesse.

“We’re all beat. How about you sleep here for the night? Tomorrow’s… Saturday? Right? No work. We can sleep in, have a nice breakfast, and then go at it with a cooler head.”

Jesse rubs his hand across his face with a soft groan.

“Yeah… Yeah, maybe you’re right. I just don’t feel myself right now.”

Lúcio makes a commiserating sound, leading Jesse towards the couch.

“It’s been a long day,” he confirms softly, gently sitting Jesse down on the cushions. “Will you be alright here? We could also swap, if you don’t feel fine with Gabriel. Though he’ll be quiet.”

Jesse shakes his head halfway through Lúcio’s suggestions, scratching through his hair.

“Naw… I mean, no. No it’s alright. I just…” he lets himself fall to the side, head hitting the decorative cushion on the end of the couch. Lúcio nods in understanding.

He hurries out to fetch a blanket, but by the time he’s back, Jesse is already snoring softly, his face pale and tight like he’s still having a headache. Lúcio sighs and carefully lifts his legs up onto the cushions, then tugs the blanket around him.

When he turns around, he sees that Gabriel has moved right up against the glass, fingers splayed against it, face a mask of jealousy.

Lúcio feels a vindictive little twist in his chest, thinking ‘good’.

“You’ll let him sleep, alright?” he tells him in a half-whisper. Gabriel looks stubborn but he nods even so and turns to slip back behind the rock formations within the blink of an eye.

Lúcio goes to bed wondering about the happenings of the day.

\---

Jesse rolls onto his back and throws an arm across his face. It’s so dark in the room still, but he can’t sleep anymore. He’s been pulled awake by his own wandering thoughts, twisting and turning like swirl of water around what Gabriel has said.

There’s a soft crackling above preceding the silky voice of the hybrid in the tank a few meters away from him, giving him just a little bit of time to prepare himself.

“It’ll become harder to breathe, you know.”

Jesse stubbornly keeps quiet, even as his heartbeat speeds up. There’s a soft splashing to his left, and goosebumps rise all over his body as he imagines the octopus man to slowly crawl out of his tank.

When he has enough nerves to glance over, though, Gabriel is nowhere to be seen. Still hiding, probably.

“Your body’ll start changing,” he whispers over the speakers, voice pitched low to make sure he won’t wake Lúcio, probably. “You can’t control it yet.”

Jesse slowly sits up. He can’t remember when he’s last eaten something, but he feels nauseous as if he’s going to retch it all onto the floor anyway.

“I’d go back, if I were you” Gabriel continues softly, diction perfect. “To the sea. Before you’ll flop on the ground like a fish. Gasping. Slowly suffocating.”

Jesse swallows hard. His mouth is dry. His tongue feels swollen, head pulsating like an open wound. He feels like he can see Gabriel’s eyes from behind the rocks, strangely luminous.

He’s up and running before he makes a conscious effort.

.o.

Lúcio moves into his living room far earlier than he usually would on a Saturday, but his body has told him that it is done sleeping.

He only takes a couple steps in until he sees the blanket fallen to the ground like it had hung on to someone’s foot for a few steps before it had been thrown off.

His brain stalls, staring at the vacated couch.

“Where is Jesse?” he finally asks, glancing over to the tank where Gabriel is slowly pushing up against the glass, his face confused and worried.

“Don’t know. Was asleep.”

.o.

Jesse has no recollection of running through the city towards the beach. His head is filled with thoughts of growing gills and of suffocating on land. And maybe it wouldn’t stop there, either? Maybe his limbs will soon retract into his body, and he will grow scales until he is nothing more than a guppy flopping around…

Those are ridiculous thoughts, of course, but they get his heart pounding and sweat to prickle along his hairline. He can’t remember when he’s last eaten (probably something during lunch break yesterday), and he is starting to become nauseous from hunger.

By the time he is crawling over the large boulders sectioning off the more dangerous part of the beach, he is out of breath and woozy, legs so weak he stumbles and almost falls to the rocky shore.

He doesn’t know what he’s doing here, really. He doesn’t know what he’s trying to accomplish. Gabriel’s low, ominous voice keeps crawling through his head.

_It’ll become harder to breathe, you know._

_Your body’ll start changing._

Jesse hasn’t thought of himself as someone prone to panic attacks, but for the second time (or third? he’s lost count) in 24 hours he finds he has to bend over and breathe into the palms of his hands cupped in front of his mouth.

The twinkling of blue scales from the corner of his eyes distracts him somewhat. He looks up.

Hanzo is there, perched calm and beautiful on the rock his brother had been sitting on last night. There’s not a single hair out of place. He looks like he’s been there for hours, and Jesse honestly wouldn’t be able to say whether that is true or not; he’s been in a tunnel getting here, body prickling with sweat.

“You are bleeding, human,” Hanzo calls over disdainfully, and when Jesse just stares at him, he glances down until Jesse follows his gaze, numbly staring at his naked feet.

He hasn’t put on any shoes, he realizes dully. He’s just got up and ran, chased out of Lúcio’s house by Gabriel’s cool, frightening voice and his own mounting panic.

His feet are dirty and bleeding, and slowly he becomes aware of the throbbing pain of dirt and sand smeared into the cuts.

“Damn!” he hisses and carefully has to sit himself down on the unforgiving ground, helplessly staring at them.

Hanzo watches him with a weird squint from his perch.

“Why did you do that?” he calls over eventually.

Jesse shakes his head and grabs at his hair with both hands, pulling hard enough to dull the throbbing pain radiating off of his feet. He’s cold and miserable, just in jeans and a thin t-shirt because he’s a goddamn idiot that ran out of his friend’s house like a spooked colt and didn’t even don shoes or a fucking _jacket_.

.o.

Hanzo watches Jesse from afar, his self-righteous anger fizzling out somewhat as he sees him sitting there looking a picture of misery.

He waits for a moment whether McCree will answer him, but when nothing is forthcoming, he haltingly slides into the water to get closer. He hisses, a slew of bubbles rising from his mouth when he moves his tail and it _aches_. A dull throb that stuns him for a moment as he tries to come to grips with it.

He is not unused to these phantom aches and pains – none of their kind is. He is attached to Genji deeply, feeling his little brother’s wounds echoing through his own body, but this… is not Genji.

Just as the force pulling him back towards this beach has not been his brother. Genji is still prowling the waters around the human facility, waiting for them to give him Zenyatta back.

Hanzo reluctantly gets closer to the human sitting on the beach and shivering miserably. When he pokes his head out of the water again, he is a bit shocked at how close McCree suddenly is. He can see him a lot better like this; the bronze of his skin; the dark hair on his arms.

Hanzo has never before seen someone this… hirsute. Their kind is not prone to body hair, as it would disturb the currents of the water around them.

His tail keeps aching, and his eyes flick down to Jesse’s feet, which are bloody and dirty.

He has no idea where the human just came from or what he’s been doing, but seeing him like this makes him wonder yet again about how wise it is to be trusting them in anything. The other one has told Genji exactly what he needed to hear in order to be absolutely smitten with at least those two, which makes distrusting them even more difficult for Hanzo.

He is lying on his belly in the shallows, slowly lifting his head out of the waters. He’s close enough to touch Jesse, but also hasn’t stranded himself enough to be helpless.

Jesse seems so out of it, he doesn’t even lift his head to look at Hanzo which gives him the time to try and peek at his forearm. There they are. The slashes; still dark and visible and sharp, but before he can wonder about them, a smell hits his nose that has him almost reel back.

.o.

“What is this?!”

Hanzo’s angry hiss has Jesse look up, heart spasming in his chest as he sees how close the hybrid suddenly is. He hadn’t even noticed him coming closer, too caught up in his own problems.

“What d’you mean?” he asks slowly, his tongue feeling swollen in his mouth. Hanzo’s arm jerks out of the water with the speed of a striking snake, and before Jesse can jerk back, his hand is already curled around his left forearm, pulling him forward until he is almost pulled onto his knees.

There are thin webs between Hanzo’s fingers, and their touch is cool and clinging like wet silk. It makes goosebumps race up along his arms and down his back. Jesse watches dumbly as Hanzo gets his face up close to the slashes he’s left there a few weeks ago, inspecting them with a tight, serious expression before he gets even closer and begins to _sniff_ at them.

Jesse’s fingers spasm slightly, almost touching the long ink black hair. Eventually, Hanzo lets go of him with a sound so disgusted and derisive that Jesse flushes despite himself.

“What was that?” he asks softly.

Hanzo looks away, seemingly bored, but his tail swishing through the water behind him belies his agitation.

“You smell like…”

_One of us_. Jesse’s heart sinks.

“...family.” Hanzo sounds reluctant. He keeps eying Jesse’s forearm and the slashes he’s left behind.

“What does that mean?” Jesse asks softly, his deep voice brittle. He pulls his arm closer to his chest, staring at it as well.

“I don’t know,” Hanzo admits with a scowl, dark eyes squinting at Jesse. “You should be dead,” he tells him bluntly, but Jesse doesn’t even flinch this time. He starts to feel calmer; like he’s over being confused and scared after nonstop waves of adrenaline for the last 24 hours.

“But I’m not,” he says slowly.

Hanzo looks chagrined, and Jesse snorts weak and exhausted. “Well damn. Excuse me fer rescuin’ you and not dyin’ for the privilege.”

“You didn’t rescue me!” Hanzo hisses back immediately, hand slapping the surface of the water. He seems a lot less scary when he’s throwing a tantrum like a little kid. “I would have gotten out of that mess without your help!”

“Hmn. Or you would’ve attracted someone less benign as me.”

“You mean someone else who’d just bring their friends to gawk at us?! And capture us?!”

Jesse squints at him with a queer little expression.

“You mean you are pissed off because I brought _Lúcio_? I only did that because I thought he’d be able t’ help y’all. And he was, I might add. What the fuck are you angry about?”

Hanzo bristles, but McCree just looks at him calm and exhausted.

“Who says you won’t bring more and more the next times you come here?”

“Who says you’ll even _be_ here? You and your brother don’t have t’ come back.”

Hanzo flushes dully, unprepared for Jesse countering him. He slowly lowers himself into the water until he is in it up to his nose. As he stares at him, Jesse finally extends his long legs with a hiss. The ache in Hanzo’s tail flares simultaneously.

“I’d like to just… know what is happening to me,” Jesse says eventually. Hanzo slowly lifts back up, his arm extending and hand curling around Jesse’s ankle slowly.

They stare at each other uncomfortably but Jesse does not pull away from the touch. It feels like they’re having an uneasy truce for the moment.

“I don’t know either. All I know is that you smell familiar now. Not _like_ us, but like you could _become_ like us.”

He pulls Jesse’s foot closer, intent on cleaning it in the salty water, but McCree balks.

“Uh… I don’t want t’ get infected.”

Hanzo narrows his eyes at him, fishing out his satchel with first aid goods.

“Just come here, you stubborn fool.”

Jesse shakes his head but he does not pull his leg away again. He lifts one hand and drags it across his face.

“So uh… I won’t… I won’t just stop being able to breathe or some shit?” his voice is trembling all over the place and Hanzo looks up from cleaning the sole of his foot with a small soft sponge.

“What makes you think that?”

Jesse shrugs and shakes his head. He looks absolutely miserable.

“I don’t think that-”

“Jesse!”

Both their heads snap around at the sudden cry. Jesse can just about see Lúcio’s head over the edge of the large boulders separating the beaches.

There is a splash and he is sprayed with ice cold water. When he turns back, Hanzo is gone, having fled like a skittish animal.

Lúcio scrambles over the rocks. His face looks pale beneath his dark skin, eyes big as saucers as he runs towards Jesse, a bundle of Jesse’s clothes in his arms.

“Jesse! Oh my _God_, I had been so worried!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The polls for next chapter had revolved around which pair to follow
> 
> McCree/Hanzo
> 
> Lúcio/Gabriel
> 
> Genji/Zenyatta


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> warnings: mild nudity
> 
> Rather than seeing what the others are up to, we decide to keep our focus on Jesse and Hanzo...

It’s getting colder by the day. Jesse’s shifts on the beach are far and wide, now that they only have a skeleton crew. There’s a lull in his schedule until he starts his barista job again, and he uses this lull to go to the beach every goddamn day.

He doesn’t know what he thinks might happen, but he knows that it just… feels better to be close. He’s not seen Hanzo again, nor Genji or his friend. Lúcio has assured him that they have let this Zenyatta back into the water. He supposes that was that.

There’s no need for them to contact him any longer. But he can’t help but think about them and their glittering scales.

He can’t help but feel like he is being watched every time he is on that rocky part of the beach, staring at the grey water… Catching himself more and more often how he starts to walk towards it until the water seeps into his shoes.

He feels beside himself. A weird out-of-body experience that isn’t as frightening as it had seemed just a week or two before. He’d been out of his mind with panic then, just frightened by Gabriel crooning nightmares into his ear, but now he feels like he is coasting on something.

He’s not really there fully, except he is.

When Hanzo suddenly pokes his head out of the waves after a week or-so of not showing up, Jesse can’t even muster the decency to look surprised. Part of him had just _known_ the guy was there, and he realizes it now that he watches his cool, black eyes studying him in return.

“Hey there!” Jesse calls over, lifting a hand in greeting. For a second he thinks that Hanzo will just vanish again, but after another moment of quiet staring, he starts to move his tail and pushes himself forward to Jesse.

The closer he comes, the more something in Jesse’s chest relaxes and he can breathe a little easier.

“Hey there,” he drawls again when Hanzo is closer, eying the long line of his strong tail in the water behind him. The sea has to be freezing cold but Hanzo doesn’t look bothered by it; even his nipples, when he pushes his upper body out of the water, are still soft and pudgy looking.

Jesse stares at his chest, a jumbled mess of half-thought concepts tumbling through his mind before Hanzo’s voice distracts him.

“You keep coming here.”

Jesse blinks and his eyes flick up to Hanzo’s eyes.

“You’ve been watchin’?”

Hanzo looks chagrined for a moment, but before he can answer, Jesse continues: “What’re ye critters doin’ here anyway? Thought your brother’s sweetheart was out ‘n about.”

Hanzo’s brow furrows.

“We are no… _critters_.”

Jesse winces.

“Pardon’ me. I mean… hybrids?”

“We are water dragons.”

Hanzo lifts his impressive tail out of the water. The day is dreary and grey but somehow the sky blue scales still manage to find any and all light and make it reflect beautifully. Jesse is quiet, staring at the display with fascination.

Water dragons, then. He can definitely see that.

“What are ya doin’ here, though? Where’s your brother?”

Hanzo looks reluctant, like he does not want to answer, but eventually allows a strangely pouty: “He is with Zenyatta.”

“So everythin’ is fine?”

Jesse slowly squats down to make it easier for Hanzo to look at him. Hanzo nods slowly, eyes following Jesse attentively.

“It seems that way.”

“I’m glad.”

There’s an awkward pause where they just stare at each other and don’t say anything. When they speak again, they overlap.

“I was jus’ thinking-”

“I suppose I should than-”

They pause again, and Hanzo squints at him.

“Pardon. What did you want to say?”

“Has your wound healed?”

It is definitely not what he was about to say earlier, but Jesse is not going to argue with him. Jesse hums, and reaches for the sleeve of his jacket.

“Yes, actually.”

He pushes the sleeve up and turns his forearm so Hanzo can see it. The gashes had indeed suddenly closed up, but the skin – now smooth to the touch without a hint of scarring – is still discolored. The scratches are ink black; they look like a tattoo more than anything.

Hanzo’s brow creases thoughtfully. He reaches out for Jesse’s arm, and his first instinct is to pull it away from the sharp looking talons, but the palm has curled around his wrist before he can move.

The thin webbing between Hanzo’s fingers feels cold to the touch; just short of slimy. Jesse swallows hard, eyes flicking from the hand twisting and turning his arm, and to Hanzo’s face, dark eyes scrutinizing the mark.

Eventually, Hanzo lets go of him with a thoughtful hum.

“So… any idea what this is about?” Jesse asks softly. Hanzo shakes his head, but he looks thoughtful still, so he is quiet for a moment to let him think. Eventually he pipes up again, just having to fill the awkward silence.

“Why _do_ we understand each other? I have met another… uh… water… person? And that guy has had to learn our language first… I just don’t-”

“We have learned it from a human,” Hanzo says with some annoyance. He pulls himself closer until he is sitting sideways on the shore. Jesse is almost distracted from his statement by the sight of his tail; the sheer length and beauty of it.

He can also see Hanzo’s… feet… curled up relaxed against his abdomen; stumpy, reptilian, and not at all mermaid-like. For some reason, it is the sight of them that really drives it home to Jesse: this is real. This is happening.

“So you know other humans?”

Hanzo sighs deeply and rubs his fingers along the back of his nose.

“I do not wish to talk about this anymore. Leave it.”

Jesse grits his teeth, and fixes Hanzo with a stare. It’s the first time he is this close and lets himself directly stare at the creature. The… water dragon.

“Listen, pal. I understand that humans have done you an’ your brother dirty for some time now, but I wasn’t one of ‘em, right? You put me into a pretty shitty situation.” Here, he lifts his arm again for emphasize. Hanzo’s face is darkening by the second, his mouth pulling into a little downwards arc. “An’ I don’t want ya to go an’... marry me or anythin’, but I do want some _answers_. I want to know what I can expect going forward.”

Hanzo looks chagrined. He turns his head and stares out at the sea, expression tight and unhappy. While Jesse waits for him to come to a conclusion of some sort, he just stares at his profile.

While Hanzo’s torso and everything to his hips looks human at first glance, Jesse can see that his skin is a bit more pebbled than a human’s. There’s a dark line around his eyes that looks like some sharply drawn make-up, but he is suitably sure that that can’t be the case.

There are gills against the sides of his neck, tucked just beneath the sharp hinge of his jaw. They move just a little bit, but obviously he has no difficulty breathing the air around here (which… kind of calms Jesse).

“I already told you that I don’t know what is going to happen to you,” Hanzo suddenly speaks up, voice calm. He stares out at the see with an absolute poker face. “But-”, he continues before Jesse can say a word, “I am curious as well. About your condition. And about the world outside of the water. I want to know more. So I know what to expect. So I can protect my brother and his intended better.”

Jesse blinks slowly. He has trouble for some reason to wrap his head around what Hanzo just said.

“So some Quid Pro Quo? Didn’t know you were into that Lecter shit…”

“I do not know what-”

“I mean… you want information in exchange for information, right? We can do that.”

Jesse smiles what he thinks is his most winning smile, but Hanzo does not look impressed.

“No. I want to go with you.”

Jesse stares at him quietly, then down at the long tail and reptilian feet.

“I’m… sorry, darlin’. I fear ya need a bit more than those to keep up on land.”

Hanzo’s face darkens instantly. He reaches out with a speed that has goosebumps break out along Jesse’s body, and grabs him by the front of his shirt, pulling him close and showing him the rows of his disturbingly sharp teeth.

“Do _not_ belittle me, _human!_”

He lets go of Jesse and pushes him away a bit for good measure.

Before Jesse can say more, the water dragon’s tail begins to… shift. It reminds him of the creepy animorph depictions on the front of those books. He blinks rapidly, trying to wrap his mind around the sight of the contours of Hanzo’s tail moving and shifting, but there seems to be something in his human brain revolting against comprehending it all.

There’s a throbbing pain starting up behind his eyes again, and he has to look away for a moment.

When he glances back, Hanzo is… human. There’s no more tail; no reptilian feet; instead he has two sturdy, muscular legs. His feet are almost dainty, their nails going into points that Jesse just knows are as razor sharp as the claws on his hands.

He is also fascinatingly _naked_.

“What the Hell,” he groans, dragging both hands across his face. “I didn’t know you could do that!”

“You don’t know much about us, human,” Hanzo says haughtily. He looks smug. “And you won’t find out more than you already know if it goes my way.”

“What exactly are you planning?” Jesse asks. He thinks his own voice is a bit shrill. He can feel panic creeping up at the back of his throat again and begins to fight it down. He needs to take deep, calming breaths. Just… just calm down.

“I want you to teach me about this outside world,” Hanzo says again, staring at him like he is an idiot. “Know thy enemy.”

It is so weird hearing such a common day _human_ phrase out of Hanzo’s mouth. Where _did_ he know all these things from? From his expression it didn’t seem to occur to him that what he just said was weird.

“Okay… fuck. Okay. Uh… you sure that your brother won’t… miss you?”

“He is… occupied. And we can feel each other’s whereabouts.”

Jesse decides not to ask. He’s not in the mood to get denied by Hanzo once again. He rubs his face once more, then peeks down at Hanzo’s legs. They look so ordinary, really. It occurs to him that Hanzo’s upper body has changed as well.

His skin seems smoother; the tender looking gills beneath his jaw have vanished.

His eyes are still as hard and piercing as they have been previously, though.

“I need to find ya some clothes first. Humans aren’t really used to all that jazz…” he awkwardly waves his hand towards Hanzo’s crotch. He tries not to stare at the silky looking fleece of pitch black pubes, and the delicious looking cock nestled there, but he must be doing it even so because suddenly Hanzo’s hands cover himself up. When Jesse looks up, the water dragon looks a bit awkward.

“I’ll come back with clothes next time. You uh… will you…”

Hanzo looks at him with an indecipherable expression.

“I will feel you.”

The little hairs along Jesse’s forearms stand at attention at the weird phrasing. He does not ask. He just retreats.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Polls for the next chapter had been:
> 
> A lot has happened in two weeks! Where should we turn to next?
> 
> Genji/Zenyatta
> 
> Lúcio/Gabriel
> 
> (keep in mind that AO3 is behind by one week. if you want to be able to vote and read the newest chapters when they get out, go to my tumblr to find out more)


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> warnings: handjobs; beginning of BDSM relationship without conscious knowledge
> 
> Rather than look at Genji and Zenyatta, we turn towards Lúcio and Gabriel and see what they have been up to in the past 2 weeks...

When Lúcio comes back from work, the speakers crackle to life immediately above him.

“Play…” Gabriel’s deep, ominous voice sends goosebumps down Lúcio’s spine. He glances behind him nervously but nobody is even on the streets at this hour. He slips inside and closes the door.

When he doesn’t answer, Gabriel’s voice becomes a bit more petulant and needy: “Lúcio… play.”

This is nothing new, but Lúcio still needs time to adjust to their new dynamic. The rules he has laid down for both Gabriel and himself.

He doesn’t hurry pushing his shoes off or hanging his jacket up, and he tries his best not to look in the direction of Gabriel on the sofa, sitting there in anticipation and looking absolutely delicious in his nakedness.

“Lúcio,” the overhead speakers croon when he realizes Lúcio isn’t paying any attention to him, and when that doesn’t get the results he wants, he whines with his actual voice; hoarse and deep and so delicious that Lúcio has to pause where he is in the kitchen and just grab the edge of the counter.

He’s not yet sure whether this whole… thing… has been a good idea.

He’s understood that he’s not blameless in Gabriel’s manipulation of Jesse, and he still struggles with the perceived power imbalance in their relationship, but Gabriel has been a lot happier as of late, so he’s not _completely_ wrong in pursuing this… this… _relationship_. Right?

Damn this is hard.

Gabriel whines again, and this time Lúcio reacts, pushing through the euphory his body experiences when Gabriel tries to get his way.

“Gabriel,” he says, not sharp but firm. “Wait your turn.”

Gabriel quiets down after that; even the white noise from the overhead speakers vanishes. Lúcio can feel Gabriel’s intense focus directed at him, but this, too, is one of the things that can occupy him, even if he does not like being denied.

Gabriel is intelligent – highly intelligent – and Lúcio had been remiss to properly acknowledge this fact.

As he gets their meals ready, fingers moving on auto pilot, he finds himself wanting to trod down the same paths yet again.

_I treated him like a pet._

_He was bored out of his mind._

_I’m a horrible person._

He shakes his head. He needs to get out of this spiral; he needs to push forward. The past has happened and couldn’t be changed; all he could do now was try to be better.

Gabriel is almost perched on the back of the couch by the time that Lúcio comes in with two plates. He is followed by the smell of the steaks and potatoes he has cooked while listening to some of his tracks that are still in production so Gabriel won’t be tempted to make a ruckus and try to get his attention.

He tries not to stare at Gabriel, but it is difficult… even after all this time of seeing him naked again and again; Gabriel is simply a _vision._

Halfway through their meal, Lúcio can’t help himself anymore; he has to laugh with exasperation.

“Stop _staring_ at me!”

He’s not quite sure Gabriel has even blinked since Lúcio sat down next to him. Gabriel, surprisingly obediently, immediately averts his gaze. Oh, he wants to play. He wants to be on his _best_ behavior so Lúcio can’t deny him the entertainment.

“I got some new locks,” Lúcio says, his heart racing in his chest. “We’ll see if you can Houdini your way out of them.”

Gabriel is no longer confused by the phrase; Lúcio has explained it to him just a few days ago. A low, satisfied growl emanates from the hybrid. He’s ready to take the challenge on.

He’s not quite urging Lúcio to eat faster, but what he’s doing has the same effect. He’s sitting close enough that Lúcio can feel his inhuman body heat, and he’s making those little throaty sounds that he _knows_ Lúcio can’t resist.

There’s nothing of the supernatural pull to them that Lúcio had felt weeks ago when Gabriel had manipulated his desire into sleeping with him. They’re normal sounds that still get to him stupidly well.

He finds himself reaching over and gently grabbing Gabriel’s thigh, thick and hard with muscle; then letting his hand slide down to cup the stump ending just above the knee.

“Alright. Dang. I’ll get you trussed up and then I’ll finish eating.” He puts his plate down with a sigh. Gabriel does not look like he is particularly sorry. He would like to crawl all over Lúcio as if he were a little clingy octopus puppy instead of a beefy 6-foot-something man.

This is what they have come up with during the course of the past two weeks:

Lúcio will truss Gabriel up the best way he can, and Gabriel will try to worm his way out of it.

Lúcio is still trying to wrap his head around how plain _good_ Gabriel is at this. He hasn’t yet tried to truss him up while in his aquatic form, but he suspects that it would only make it that much easier for him.

Lúcio is also still trying not to get an erection while carefully putting Gabriel in his bindings and seeing how his cocksure attitude slowly melts into something more needy.

He wonders if Gabriel even realizes that he’s becoming quiet and a bit loopy when Lúcio puts the ropes around him. Soon he will start to use chains. He… can’t wait to see Gabriel when he hears the soft, meditative clinking of them while he moves and writhes and tries to wriggle out.

It’s a good way to engage Gabriel’s considerable intellect and give him some exercise.

It is also a good way to test Lúcio’s patience and willpower – both of which are failing spectacularly as he loops more and more rope around Gabriel’s body.

The hybrid is staying perfectly still; he’s not trying to flirt now. Or maybe he is; trying to show off to Lúcio.

“There…” he rasps when the last lock is in place. The ropes are sturdy, capped with leather ends that have rings attached to them so he can put the locks on. “Try not to damage them, alright?”

He wants to pat his shoulder briefly, but it becomes a squeeze, hand staying for far longer than it needs to. Gabriel turns his head and looks at him quietly. Reverently. Lúcio has to look away, his heart beating a fast staccato against his ribs.

“I’ll be here,” he whispers, almost swaying on his way to the couch to sit down again. “H-have fun.”

He hears the gentle hitch of breaths and rustling of ropes as Gabriel starts to test the bindings, trying not to look over. From the corner of his eyes he can tell that Gabriel keeps staring at him.

Always fixating on Lúcio. In the beginning, Lúcio had been a bit worried that he was… plotting something, but by now he knows that Gabriel is _feeling_ something for him. That he wants to _impress _him.

_Court him_.

Lúcio flushes hot whenever he thinks these words. His palms become sweaty and he rubs them against his pants. It’s so exciting to think about, really.

The overhead speakers crackle to life, and Gabriel’s smoky voice curls all around him.

“Look at me.”

Lúcio can‘t help but obey. He stares at Gabriel, trussed up in the ropes that are tight enough to cut into his muscles. He looks absolutely delicious.

„You‘re still in them,“ Lúcio can hear himself say, shocked about his own daring. „Last time you were out in five minutes flat.“

Gabriel‘s eyes flash. He looks predatory like a shark, upper body angling towards Lúcio. When he speaks next, it doesn‘t come from the overhead speakers, rattling Lúcio to the core.

„You test me?“

He has very carefully enunciated every word, showing off razor sharp teeth as he speaks slowly and with conviction.

Lúcio notices that he has swayed forwards as well on the couch; pulled easily by Gabriel‘s charisma. He hangs onto his lips.

„If that helps you to get out?“ he says, feeling strangely breathless. Like Gabriel’s undivided attention is sucking all the air out of him.

The hybrid is slightly swaying from side to side, gaze boring into Lúcio. Not letting him get away.

„I want something,“ he says, slow like molasses as he carefully enunciates the words to not trip over them. Lúcio‘s heart is hammering in his chest, his muscles cramped with anticipation. Cock growing hard.

„You mean you want a deal?“ he rasps, and continues before he can think better of it: „What do you want?“

Gabriel must be getting too excited now, because the speakers crackle to life once more while he stares at Lúcio like he wants to eat him. He is erect as well, Lúcio notices despite trying _not_ to notice. Gabriel’s cock is big and hard and gently bobbing with every little motion he does.

„Your bed. I want to sleep in your bed.” And before Lúcio can ask further, feeling dazed, he adds: “With you.”

Lúcio blinks slowly. He doesn’t know whether Gabriel means literally or figuratively. He doesn’t know if Gabriel knows how it could be interpreted. His face is absolutely unreadable, yet intense. Lúcio wouldn’t put it past him to somehow have figured it out.

Gabriel is manipulating him without even trying, it seems. It’s like he is playing with his prey and Lúcio walks into the trap with open eyes.

“Yes,” he hears himself say. “If you’re a good boy, you can sleep with me.”

Gabriel’s mouth opens softly. Just like that, he looks less like he is about to eat Lúcio and more like he is just very, very needy. Like he needs this.

It gives Lúcio an opportunity to breathe through and relax his muscles one by one. He nods at Gabriel, and Gabriel begins to struggle against his bindings.

\---

Lúcio has been quietly rooting for Gabriel. Watching him wind on the floor, trying to get out of the carefully crafted bondage has been something impossibly erotic. He’s never seen anything like it.

Gabriel is so hard… halfway through he just begins to gently hump against the floor, trying his damndest to manipulate his sheathe down and let his suckers out at the air.

Lúcio remembers well how they felt against his fingers. So silky soft and in crass contrast against the hard shaft.

He should maybe call Gabriel out on his humping, but he can’t make himself do it. He is trying his hardest not to jerk off himself as he stares at all of those muscles trembling just for him. Looking absolutely stunning.

He can’t tell how Gabriel is doing it, but suddenly one of his arms is just _free_ and he rolls onto his back, big fist curling around his cock. He is panting in heaving breaths. The writhing outside of his water tank is intensely difficult for him.

Lúcio stares as Gabriel watches him in turn, his dark eyes fixed on him as he jerks off. He pulls down the not-quite-human foreskin until it bunches silky soft around the base, fingers gently playing with the two rows of suckers down the underside of his cock. Everything looks very wet and glistening. He produces just so much slick…

Lúcio can’t help but lift his ass and tug his shorts down. Gabriel whines like a puppy, jerking like he wants to come closer and say hello to Lúcio’s cock.

“No,” Lúcio croaks out decisively. Gabriel pulls back. Obedient. Good boy…

They watch each other jerk off. Lúcio’s ears burn hot, but he does not back down from it. The room is filled with their harsh breathing and the slick sounds of their fists dragging over their cocks.

Gabriel is the first to come; he’s been so hard for so long, just teasing himself with his wriggling and writhing. His big, dark eyes are on Lúcio. It feels like they haven’t left him for even a second since he’s set foot into his house.

When he comes, he comes for Lúcio. There’s no other way to describe it. He comes like it is an offering, whining, head tilting back and finally breaking the intense contact. He shows his body off; the trembling of his muscles; the jerk of his cock in his fist as he starts to pump out thick ribbons.

Lúcio follows after.

\---

After clean-up, Gabriel insists on crawling. He does not want the wheelchair, and Lúcio is conflicted, but he can’t make him sit in it if he does not want to.

He’s never been out of his tank for so long. Lúcio wonders if Gabriel even notices – if he does, he doesn’t show it. He crawls into Lúcio’s bed like he’s done it a million times before.

He looks so goddamn good beneath Lúcio’s sheets. Big and muscled and gorgeous, waiting for Lúcio to crawl in and pulling him close without asking for permission.

Lúcio shouldn’t let him get away with it, but it feels so good… so nice… 

He’s got it bad...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The votes for next chapter had been:
> 
> Does Genji notice his brother leaving the water?
> 
> Yes, and he's so jealous!
> 
> No, he's completely focused on Zenyatta


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> warnings: mild panic attack
> 
> Rather than notice his brother venturing outside the water and feeling the looming threat, Genji is completely absorbed into Zenyatta...

Jesse has brought Hanzo clothes, but even covered like a normal human he has an air about him that is decidedly… non-human.

He can’t put his finger on why. Something just keeps being… off. Not that he would tell Hanzo – or that Hanzo would care, he suspects. Watching a grown man try to work out how to use his legs had already been… something.

He had all the necessary muscles, but moving them in a distinct walking fashion, especially on unsteady ground such as the rocky beach, had not been easy.

Jesse had spent a good amount of time bracing Hanzo, arms slipped beneath his arms to pull him back up when he lost his footing. Or all but hugging him to his chest to let him get his feet back beneath him.

He’s… intimately acquainted to the smell of Hanzo (brine and ocean water), and his feel (heavy and warm).

Jesse has nothing to do but watch this weird, stocky little man learn to walk with the fiercest of expressions on his face. There’s no job, no obligations for now... just him being an idiot and letting himself get roped into this madness.

“So, uh…” he’s always bumbling like an idiot when talking to Hanzo. Something makes him incredibly nervous. Maybe the rows of needle sharp teeth. “You hate humans.”

“Correct,” Hanzo says primly, eyes down on his feet as he carefully makes one step after another. He’s gotten the hang of managing his balance incredibly fast.

“So why do you want to meet them?”

“I already told you,” Hanzo says in a tone that makes it abundantly clear that he thinks Jesse is an idiot for asking. “I want to know my enemy.”

Jesse is slowly letting go of him to let him move on his own, leaning against a large boulder. “So you think I’m your enemy?” It does kind of hurt, if he is being honest, but he supposes he can’t force Hanzo into trusting him.

Hanzo makes a little ‘tch’ sound and doesn’t answer. Instead, he stands upright with the proud air of a king, and begins to walk, if a little wobbly, up and down the rocky beach. He’s had a lot of trouble getting used to shoes, but he seems to have gotten better at it.

“So what’s your brother up to? We’ve been doin’ this for like… a week now, and I haven’t seen him once.”

Hanzo throws him an angered look, but Jesse can’t figure out if he’s pissed because he dared to ask about his brother, or because it’s not 100% about him for once. Jesse’s figured out in just a few minutes that despite Hanzo’s immense aversion against humans he is quite the… attention whore.

Or maybe he is not angry at Jesse at all, but at the fact that his brother must not have noticed his forages into the human world at all.

“He is focused on Zenyatta for now,” Hanzo says primly. “He will come back.”

He doesn’t add _‘When the novelty wears off’_, but it is strongly implied in Jesse’s opinion. He wisely doesn’t say a thing.

“You know, you’ve gotten pretty good at this whole uh… walking thing. What do you think about venturing out a little bit? There’s a café close by.”

Hanzo looks at him weirdly, and Jesse has the distinct feeling that he does not know what a café is. He pulls himself up and tugs awkwardly at his clothes (all a bit too large, courtesy of Jesse), and says with immense dignity: “If we must.”

There are two spots of color high up on Hanzo’s cheekbones. He’s a lot more excited about the prospect than he wants Jesse to know.

\---

Louis sits at the docks, staring down at his arm. The slashes from the stupid creature had finally healed, but they were still visible in sharp black against his skin.

He doesn’t know what they are about; any and all experiments he’s conducted on himself, have yielded inconclusive results, most of the time directly contradicting each other. Miller would probably know what to do, but he doesn’t want anybody to know yet.

For the moment he just wants to sit and think. Sit at the water. Touch it.

He’s taken off his shoes and socks and has shimmied far enough to the edge of the pier to get his feet in up to the ankle. The touch of the cool water soothes something inside him that had been scratching for release.

Louis closes his eyes, hand over his healed slashes, and just listens to the to and fro of the waves around him. He’s always been inquisitive about the water and its residents, but he’s never felt this impossible _pull_ to be close to it. Inside it.

It’s hard enough to keep just sitting on the pier and not thrust himself into the waves. He wonders if he is suicidal, but he does not think that he is. He does not want to end himself; he just wants to… _swim_.

He looks down watching his feet splash around. He can feel the cool water sliding through between his toes… until he can’t anymore. The water resistance… _shifts_. Goosebumps race down Louis’ spine. His hands come down and curl tightly around the edge of the pier, back curling forward until he has his chest pressed against his knees.

He keeps moving his toes, but something is different than before. It’s like a dormant little organ at the back of his brain has suddenly come awake. He can feel the water sliding around him.

When Louis lifts his feet out, he can see translucent webbing between his toes. It’s so soft and dainty looking. Unreal. He blinks slowly, then extends a hand and carefully touches the very tip of a finger to the web between his big toe and the one next to it.

It feels silky. He can also feel the slight tug.

It is real. The webbing is real.

Louis exhales sharply and turns the arm he has extended, staring at the inky slashes visible against his forearm.

\---

Genji can somewhat feel the tingling at the back of his head, but he doesn’t want to pay attention to it. Neither his brother, nor the human that had taken Zenyatta are on his mind when he can swim with his beloved again.

Zenyatta is a bit more quiet than he had been before he had gotten abducted. Something is troubling him, but he does not tell Genji when he asks. He keeps turning and peering over his shoulder as if they are being followed.

“You don’t need to be afraid,” Genji assures him as he urges Zenyatta against a reef, boxing him in with his arms. “I will protect you.”

He trails the back of a hand along one of Zenyatta’s arms, feeling the hard, smooth surface. Zenyatta doesn’t answer again; his little chubby tendrils keep moving while he calmly stares at Genji. His new face is exciting. Genji has no idea how this even works, but he likes the constant movements.

It makes him hungry, looking at Zenyatta.

“What are you worried about?” he asks again when his beloved doesn’t move. Zenyatta used to be a lot more flirty. A lot more expressive. The thought that they had done unspeakable things to him makes Genji’s blood run cold.

There is another moment of silence before Zenyatta suddenly jerks, his head cocking violently to the side for a moment before his voice is expelled out like a moray eel grabbing its prey.

“I cannot t-tell you.” His voice is strangely distorted, breaking all over itself. It sounds like it is an effort for him to get even that much out.

Genji’s heart squeezes painfully.

“Why not?” he asks softly. “I can protect you. Trust me.”

Zenyatta lifts his hands and gently frames Genji’s face, thumbs dragging along his cheekbones. His face is not giving away much in terms of expressions; the little tendrils of the octopus keep moving in a calm, hypnotizing manner. Still, Genji has come to understand the set of Zenyatta’s shoulders, the tilt of his head, the hum coming off of his chest, sometimes louder, sometimes more quiet.

“I trust you, Genji,” he finally says, hands still framing Genji’s face and forcing him to be still for once. “But I don’t think you can trust me.”

Genji’s heart skips a beat. His first reaction is to want to pull back, but Zenyatta is still keeping a hold of him.

“I don’t understand…”

Zenyatta slowly lets go of him.

“I can not articulate myself to you,” he says gently. “It is not within my possibilities at the moment. But… I don’t think that me being with you is good, Genji.”

Genji’s belly feels like it has shrivelled down to the size of a raisin. His gills keep moving jerkily but he’s not pulling any water in, and soon his lungs are burning from lack of oxygen.

“You love me because you have nobody else,” Zenyatta continues. “It has been just you and your brother for so long. Where is your family, Genji?”

Genji doesn’t say anything; he can’t say anything. His ears are filled with a weird static crackling noise. Dully he thinks that this must be what Hanzo goes through when he has one of his panic attacks.

“You should go to your family, Genji,” Zenyatta says gently, grasping one of Genji’s hands and squeezing it. Genji shakes his head.

“I can’t,” he finally gets out past the stopper in his throat. Slowly but surely he calms as he focuses on the pressure Zenyatta puts on his hand.

Zenyatta tilts his head slightly, the octopus leaning into the smooth glass until the eye is pressed up to it comically, staring at Genji.

“Why is that?”

Genji closes his eyes and inhales deeply again, then exhales. He pushes away from the reef he had Zenyatta boxed against and tugs him along.

“Come... I-I show you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The poll for next chapter had been...
> 
> \---
> 
> This chapter we have seen various simultaneous developments.
> 
> Please decide which we will have a closer look at, going forward. Those that aren't chosen will still be mentioned, but more in a glossed-over way probably.
> 
> (aka Genji's and Hanzo's backstory will be explained but not in too much detail, if Genji/Zenyatta is not picked)
> 
> \- More Jesse/Hanzo  
\- More Genji/Zenyatta  
\- More Lúcio/Gabriel  
\- More Louis + Miller


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the upcoming chapters we will mainly focus on Jesse and Hanzo...
> 
> warning: none

Jesse tries to wrap his head around bringing a mermaid – or whatever – into a coffee shop. He feels like there is a joke hidden somewhere that he can’t quite see yet.

Hanzo looks around with understated curiosity. His face is what Jesse can only call ‘resting bitch’ face, made even worse by the fact that he so obviously doesn’t want to seem excited and interested in his new surroundings.

He is _almost_ normal looking, but moves about weird enough to make Jesse hurry him towards one of the cute little tables in the back and make him sit down there. He thinks a few people have already glanced around at Hanzo and his slightly… floating arm movements.

There is just something _off_ about him, and people take notice, even if they don’t seem to actively be aware of it.

“You’ll just sit right here and I’ll get us something to drink and a snack, okay?” he says, leaning far down so he can murmur it. “You don’t move a muscle. Don’t even _think_ about getting up from this seat. Alright?”

In his head, a million movies are playing where aliens or some shit came down to earth and kids were trying to hide them. All the ‘wacky’ things that ensued when the aliens inevitably started wandering off, intrigued by everyday happenings.

The mere thought of Hanzo being out there without supervision has his blood run cold. It’s not necessarily that he is afraid Hanzo could be hurt – it’s more the thought of someone approaching _Hanzo_ and being on the receiving end of his sharp teeth or mean claws.

Jesse knows exactly how Hanzo’s hair trigger temperament feels, after all.

Hanzo stares at him with a blank expression. Jesse has no idea how make-up works, but he still thinks that it is downright unfair how pretty Hanzo’s naturally ink-black lined eyes look even when he is making a face like he is considering dumping Jesse right then and there.

“I am not an idiot,” he says primly, slowly folding his hands in front of him on the table. “I will wait for you.”

Jesse nods and inhales softly, then pats Hanzo’s forearm before he can think better of it and turns around real quick so Hanzo won’t see how the simple motion has him all flustered. Hanzo is cool to the touch, but he finds himself wondering how fast he would warm up to a bit of lovin’.

With stiff legs, he makes his way over to the counter, but he has to wait his turn. They arrived right during the lunch rush, and Jesse could kick himself for not taking it into account. There was nothing to be done about it now. He really wants to twist around to keep an eye on Hanzo, but he doesn’t want to put any attention on them by being unnecessarily creepy, so he makes himself stand like a rock and stare at the nape of the girl in front of him.

When he finally has his order of two ham sandwiches and some tea, he turns to find that Hanzo has indeed not moved an inch from the table – but that he is also no longer alone there. Another man has made his way over, one hand on the back of Jesse’s chair, leaning over Hanzo with a charming smile.

Jesse wonders while his heart stops to beat, whether the guy is immune to the absolutely murderous stare Hanzo directs his way. As Jesse moves and tries not to run and topple over the tray in his hands, the newcomer leans a bit closer, elbow on the table. Jesse’s blood runs cold when he sees Hanzo disdainfully lift his lip, showing off the faintest glimmer of his razor sharp teeth.

“Heeey there!” Jesse says a bit louder than necessary while doing one big almost-leap to get to them before Hanzo can bite. He puts the tray down on the table while the newcomer jerks upright, startled by the sudden noise. The saucers of the quaint little teacups are now wet with spillage but Jesse doesn’t really care. His arm jerks out and he grabs Hanzo’s shoulder, fingers digging in just this side of too hard.

“Sorry, bud… ‘s our first date.”

The man’s brows shoot up. He looks Jesse up and down, and then Hanzo. His brows lift, and for a second Jesse thinks he’s about to say something scathing, but then he just rightens his clothes and murmurs a sullen: “Could’ve just said so from the beginning, you know…” and turns without another word.

Jesse exhales, but his heart is still thrumming away against his ribcage. He slowly lets go of Hanzo’s shoulder, and gives it a little awkward pat before pulling his chair out and sinking down in it.

Catastrophe averted, it is now him that is the recipient of Hanzo’s baleful glare. His questioning grunt is only answered with a derisive: “Disgusting,” before his dark eyes flick to the offerings Jesse has brought.

If Jesse didn’t know better, he would say that Hanzo’s expression implies that he does enjoy being tended to like a King, but Jesse wisely doesn’t say a word about it and just quietly nudges tea and sandwich towards him.

.o.

Hanzo had been surreptitiously watching him to see how the sandwich was eaten and the tea was drunk, and Jesse magnanimously pretends like he doesn’t notice.

He tries to imagine how it would be if he were in Hanzo’s shoes. In a completely different culture; all alone.

“This man earlier,” Hanzo says eventually and apropos of nothing. “He wanted to mate?”

Jesse almost chokes on the last sip of his tea, his eyes rolling over to stare at Hanzo, but it is impossible to discern whether he is making fun of Jesse or asking in all honesty. His face could just as well have been hewn from stone.

“I… guess so. Yeah,” Jesse says when he thinks he has himself under control again. “Not like… immediately, but… eventually.”

Hanzo looks thoughtful.

“So my appearance pleased him,” he says, and looks very pleased himself about this. Jesse snorts just to overshadow that stab of something ugly in his belly. He looks away from Hanzo for a moment and when he glances back, the creature is underhandedly preening.

What a vain asshole.

“I am satisfied with this first outing,” Hanzo continues with the air of a King. He seems a lot calmer now than he had when entering the little coffee shop. Having that guy flirt with him must have given him a huge confidence boost. Jesse is not sure if he likes it.

(He likes it a lot. Watching the beauty preen and unfold himself.)

He blinks slowly. “So ya wanna go back?”

“Yes.”

They stand and make their way outside. Hanzo stays close by; probably because he’s still a bit unsure on his legs. Jesse is hyper aware of his presence next to him, and how Hanzo’s elbow keeps brushing against his.

When he glances down, he just catches Hanzo looking up at him all sly before looking ahead of them.

Was he… planning something? He honestly wouldn’t put it past the bastard. Jesse braces himself for it, but all Hanzo does is walk and look around and be quietly satisfied.

They crawl over the large boulders sectioning the beach, and then just stand there, looking out over the water.

“This outing was… enjoyable,” Hanzo says after a while. He’s not hurrying to get back into the sea, and Jesse is curious to see where this is going. He watches the water dragon quietly from the side while Hanzo stubbornly looks ahead, his hands folded behind his back.

“However,” he continues gravely, “it has not sated my curiosity. If anything, I have more questions.”

“Like what?” Jesse drawly. He desperately wants to fish for a cigarette, but he doesn’t think Hanzo would be too thrilled about that.

“...like how humans live.”

Jesse’s bushy brows lift in surprise, a faint smirk playing on his lips.

“So you wanna come home with me? Is that it?”

Hanzo throws him an unimpressed glance. He jerkily lifts his hands and begins to unbutton the borrowed shirt with precise little movements that draw Jesse’s gaze despite himself. His mouth runs a little dry as Hanzo’s smooth chest is revealed.

“I wish to see your home. Yes,” Hanzo says primly. He throws his shirt into Jesse’s arms and continues to undress. When he looks up and sees Jesse staring, his gaze turns so cold, that Jesse quickly glances away, heart hammering in his chest.

Only when Hanzo wades naked into the water, does he allow himself to check out the water dragon’s back. He’s got a cute little ass that vanishes within seconds as Hanzo throws himself into the sea without second thought.

By the time he breaks through the surface once more, his face looks a lot more… feral.

“I wish to be outside longer the next time! You will accompany me and be my guide.”

Jesse’s breath catches.

“Longer? What do you mean ‘longer’? What about your brother?”

But Hanzo just turns around and vanishes beneath the surface.

.o.

Hanzo is aimlessly sliding through the cool waters. There’s a restless… itch beneath his skin that he has never felt before. He is used to always have something to occupy himself – even if it is just patrolling the stretch of sea that he and Genji call their home.

He finds himself going through the motion but not actually seeing what he is looking at. He is still thinking about what happened earlier. Sitting in this human establishment. Waiting for Jesse to serve him food and drink.

The human approaching him, clearly wanting to mate because he enjoyed Hanzo’s colors and demeanor.

He likes the attention. He likes it _a lot_.

He wonders when the next time will be that Jesse retrieves him from the beach.

Only his last thought is for his brother.

Had he been worried?

He finds Genji – and naturally Zenyatta – in the grotto the brothers have called home for all their life. He doesn’t want to bristle, but he does so even so when he sees the both of them sitting in front of mother’s grave; a picture of her delicately put on the mound of stones and glittering trinkets that Hanzo has collected over the years to honor her.

It looks at least like they hadn’t touched it. The young woman is still looking out at the same angle, quiet and strict and beautiful.

Their heads are together as if they had been whispering just seconds before Hanzo broke the surface. Genji blinks at him owlishly.

“Hanzo! You’re back early!”

Hanzo frowns and makes his way closer, bracing himself on the edge of the landmass in the grotto. He glances from Genji to Zenyatta and back again. Zenyatta’s face had always been disturbing to him. He could never tell what the fellow was thinking.

For a moment, Hanzo thinks that Genji had actually taken notice of his big brother leaving their home for the very first time, but then he continues: “Have you grown bored of patrolling?”

“No,” Hanzo says immediately, smoothly. “I was merely wondering where you two went.”

His eyes travel to the picture. Genji fidgets a little.

“I was just… uh… telling Zenyatta about mother.”

There’s a sudden spike of emotion burying into Hanzo, aching and muddled; a weird mix of anger and fear and loneliness.

“I see,” he says icily, eying Zenyatta who placidly looks back at him, the chubby little tendrils inside the glass bowl gently moving. His glittering hands are folded in his lap.

“A remarkable woman,” he says with his pretty voice that Hanzo can’t help but feel has been designed to appeal to them. “And so very… human.”

Hanzo is taken aback, eyes flicking back to the photograph of their mother. Their human mother. Her heritage is obvious, but he feels flustered that Zenyatta would so boldly speak of it.

Without another word he turns and throws himself back into the water.

Zenyatta turns lightly to look towards Genji who stares at the spot Hanzo vanished on, then shakes his head and turns back towards the grave.

“It’s complicated.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Polls for the next chapter had been....
> 
> Who do you think would make the first move?
> 
> Aggressive princeling Hanzo
> 
> In-over-his-head charming Jesse


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> warnings: none
> 
> We determined that if anybody would make the first move, it is McCree, rather than Hanzo...

It is glaringly obvious that something had happened. Hanzo looks even more severe and more… flat out bitchy than usual. Jesse pauses where he has crawled over the large rocks and doesn’t really want to approach if he is honest.

He has a feeling that a bitchy Hanzo will be absolutely insufferable.

“I can leave ya to it,” he calls over, but of course Hanzo waves him closer with the air of a monarch. He is sitting in the shallows of the sea, cold water washing about his legs. He already changed forms. Jesse shudders just watching him sit there in the icy cold, though it looks like Hanzo doesn’t mind it any.

Would Jesse come to be immune to the sharp sting of cold as well? The thought reminds him of how little he knows still. How little progress he has made in figuring out what was happening to him.

He comes a little closer, throwing his backpack to Hanzo. It was filled with clothes again, ones that he hopes were a little more neutral than the last checkered shirt that had people turn around and stare at Hanzo weirdly.

Hanzo doesn’t have much experience in terms of fashion, but he is still looking very disdainful as he pulls out the clothes. He seems to have formed very strong opinions already.

Jesse stands there awkwardly, hands folded in front of him and trying not to stare when Hanzo stands up with a surprising amount of dignity for a naked man out in the open. He instead stares at the sea, feeling the same pull that he had for some time now. It is not as needy anymore, but the feeling is there, itching under his skin.

He moves his fingers against each other, feeling like there should be water running between them. He startles when he actually _does_ feel something there. He looks down, staring at his hands, horror overcoming him when he spreads the digits and thin, translucent skin stretches between them. His heart is running a mile a minute, the sound of the water crashing against the shore suddenly very loud in his ears.

Not louder than Hanzo, though.

“I am done. Let us go.”

Startled, Jesse turns to stare at him. He’s not sure what his face looks like, but it is enough to give Hanzo who is busy carding through his long ink black hair to pause and study him.

“What.”

Jesse lifts his hands, fingers spread, but when he looks, there is nothing between them anymore. He can just see Hanzo standing there between his middle and ring finger and staring at him like he’s lost his mind.

Maybe he has.

“Nothing…” he murmurs and breathes through deeply. He scrubs across his face with both hands, then tries to let the weird feeling fall off of him. “You ready to go…” home? “...to my place?”

Hanzo squints at him slightly.

“If you insist.”

“Yeah, it’ll be… easier, I think. I prepared for it and got a lot of stuff there, you know?” he looks over the sea once more, almost waiting for a shock of green hair to appear. “And this is… okay? For you to be leavin’ for a longer while?”

Hanzo sniffs derisively. He turns away without glancing at the water, making his way over the large boulders.

“It is. Come.”

.o.

Hanzo smells of the sea. Jesse has been aware of it on some level, but it really drives home when he pushes his door open with one arm and stands to the side to let Hanzo enter.

The sea...dragon… is shorter than Jesse, and when he pushes past him, Jesse can see the fine white salt crystals in his hair. For just a second, it feels like he is standing on the beach again, the scent intense enough to make him reel. Then Hanzo is inside, and everything goes back to normal.

Or, as normal as it can be when a supernatural creature is stalking the inside of a flat for the first time, looking at everything critically and with a disdain that Jesse thinks is absolutely uncalled for.

He closes the door. Watching Hanzo make his rounds and inspect everything is like watching that stray cat Jesse once took in for a couple weeks until some better caretakers came along for her. He inexplicably has the thought that he doesn’t want to give this stray away, though.

He clears his throat.

“So? What do ya think?”

Hanzo throws him a sharp little glance out of the corner of his eye. Jesse feels like he’s been cut to the bone. He rubs at his chest and goes to his kitchen table to sit down, feeling faint.

“It is an odd living choice,” Hanzo finally decrees. He has started to grasp the backrest of the couch, gently squeezing it in his fingers before he carefully lets himself sink down on the place that Jesse spends most of his time; browsing the internet, watching movies… jerking off.

He flushes dully and puts his head in his hands. Dear Lord where was this going? Hanzo is not paying him much attention. He is bouncing slightly on the seat and then stands again to explore the rest.

“What’s that noise?” he asks eventually, a frown on his face. Jesse stares at him with a frown until it clicks that Hanzo is talking about the radio softly playing in the background. He basically never turns it off at this point, the noise too soft to bother him.

“Ah… the radio,” he says and twists in his chair to point at the small black device in the corner of his kitchen space. Hanzo stalks closer. The way he still pulls his knees up just a tad too high makes him look simultaneously like a supermodel and a flamingo; it’s a weird combination.

He leans with his elbows on the counter and tilts his head to listen to the last bit of news before a song starts to play. Jesse watches him stand in place, patiently listening for a bit over two minutes and not making a sound. When the song ends and a new one begins, he slowly pulls back again, his posture a lot more relaxed than before, fingers lightly spread out on the edge of the countertop.

“Genji would like this,” he says after a moment. He sounds… weird. Melancholic. Jesse leans back slightly, trying to catch sight of his expression, but Hanzo’s face is as stoic as ever.

“I guess so. It’s something new, huh? You guys don’t like… uh… sing?”

He feels stupid for asking, and the way Hanzo looks at him he is thinking the same thing. Jesse clears his throat and stands.

“Come on. I’ll show you the shower. You can get some of that salt out of your hair and I’m gonna cook for us while you’re doing that.”

.o.

It takes a bit of willpower to leave Hanzo alone and not stand in the doorway and gawk at him as he got naked in Jesse’s bathroom and stepped into the shower stall that had kind of freaked him out at first – even if he did not admit to it when Jesse asked him.

Jesse’s thoughts are with him while he is starting up on some chili. He hadn’t planned on it, but he suddenly needs something warm and hearty that would calm him down. Chili never failed on delivering, but it also wasn’t the quickest dish, so when Hanzo comes back out, brushing his hair with a brush he had pilfered out of Jesse’s cabinets, Jesse is still very much in the middle of everything.

Hanzo is a… surprisingly easy companion. He just sits down and quietly watches Jesse work. He doesn’t ask any questions, he just judges with unimpressed looks.

When the prep work is done, and the chili just needs to do its thing on the stove top, Jesse turns and looks at Hanzo, rubbing his hands together as if he were cold.

“So.”

Hanzo’s dark brows lift and he looks at him expectantly. Jesse inhales deeply.

“So,” he says again and comes closer, pulling out a chair next to Hanzo and turning it in the process to sit on it the wrong way round, chest pressing against the backrest as he opens the cuff of his checkered shirt and starts to roll up the sleeve, showing off the tattoo like slashes on his forearm.

“I wanna find out what this means. Like… for me an’ my life,” Jesse says seriously.

Hanzo has leaned forward, his dark eyes on the mark. Time stretches, and the longer Jesse has Hanzo’s undivided focus on him, the more nervous he becomes for some reason.

“I do, too,” Hanzo says eventually. He reaches out with both hands, and slowly curls one around Jesse’s wrist from underneath to keep him steady, while the other drags fingers along the ink black gashes.

Jesse stares at the sight of Hanzo’s sharp talons so close to his veins and wonders if he can feel just how fast his heart is thumping right now. Hanzo is leaning in so far that his nose is almost brushing Jesse’s skin. He rubs his fingers along the gashes. Jesse has no idea what he is looking for.

He does find his thoughts wandering, though, wondering how Hanzo’s long hair might feel in his fist. What it would take to shatter his cool outer shell.

Jesse blinks profusely. He’s not usually pulled by his dick that hard. Was it just one more side effect of whatever venom Hanzo had pumped into him?

“We will have enough time to find out, I suppose,” Hanzo suddenly announces and sits up again. He takes his fingers from the gashes, but not his hand from around Jesse’s wrist, he notices.

He is burning up from the inside, it feels like. Burning up like… his chili.

He curses and jerks from his chair, pulling his arm from Hanzo’s grasp. He hurries toward the stove and begins to profusely stir and scrub along the bottom of the large pot, also using the moment to just… breathe and think. It’s been a hot minute since he’s last had a hot guy in his flat, and he begins to feel like he’s somewhat… ah… pent up.

He glances behind him to Hanzo.

“Enough time…?” he says when it finally clicks what Hanzo has said. “What do you mean?”

“I will spend the night. Maybe two. I will see,” Hanzo says with the prim self-assurance of a monarch.

Jesse’s mouth opens and closes uselessly.

Pictures of him not having himself under control and making Hanzo lash out in annoyance skitter through his head.

“What do you mean? Won’t your brother be… I don’t know… concerned?”

Hanzo’s face does a weird thing where it seems to shut down. He stands, fingers pressed against Jesse’s table.

“Let that be my concern,” he says calmly, then turns and starts to inspect more of Jesse’s flat.

And that… was that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Polls for the next chapter were...  
\---
> 
> The chapter will get steamy with...
> 
> Hand jobs
> 
> Heavy make-out session


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> warnings: character gets held underwater
> 
> Rather than springing in at the deep end, the two will explore each other slowly... (No heavy make-out session this chapter but next)

The chili has not been one of his best, but Hanzo has been a surprisingly thankful eater anyway. It was… honestly a pleasure to watch him scarf it down with such gusto, his face flushed a delicate pink of excitement.

He even complimented Jesse on it which was such an awkward moment that Jesse actually prefers if he… never did that again.

In any case. It had been a nice, enjoyable evening up until now, so Jesse is not quite sure how they got to the point of him kneeling in front of his filled bathtub with Hanzo ready to dunk his head under.

“Not sure about this, buddy,” he says softly, hands in a white knuckled grip on the rim of the tub.

Hanzo frowns.

“I do not understand that word.”

“Uh… friend. It means friend.”

“We are not friends,” Hanzo says immediately with a calm certainty that makes Jesse wince. Ouch.

“Well.” Jesse clears his throat and shifts a little on his knees, staring at the water in his tub. “That doesn’t really make this easier, does it?”

“I would not let you drown,” Hanzo says with a roll of his eyes.

Jesse frowns. He reaches up, and sees Hanzo flinching back for a second but grabs his chin anyway to force him to look him in the eyes.

His heart rate is spiking as he is all too aware that Hanzo could be slashing at him out of panic or spite, but a second goes by and nothing happens. Hanzo just stares at him confused and a bit pouty.

“I would appreciate it if you would take this a little more seriously,” Jesse says softly, grip firm but not harsh. Hanzo’s facial hair feels silky against his fingers.

The creature doesn’t say anything, so he continues: “It’s my life on the line, alright? This is pretty scary for me. So. Can I trust you?”

Hanzo looks reluctant like a misbehaving child, his dark eyes slanting away to the side so he doesn’t have to look at Jesse. He seems more and more like a goddamn cat.

Jesse slightly shakes him with the hold he has on him.

“Can I _trust_ you?” he asks again, part of him freaking out that Hanzo lets him do all of this. Slowly, the sea dragon nods, looking back at Jesse from underneath lowered lids.

“Yes,” he murmurs.

Jesse forgets for a moment to let go of him, caught in just how gorgeous his eyes are. How sharp the dark markings around them.

Eventually, he slowly lets go and leaves Hanzo to quickly brush over his goatee to make sure it is lying nicely just the way he wants it to.

“Alrighty,” he says on an exhale, looking at the water once again. He grabs his shirt and pulls it over his head so he wouldn’t just soak it.

“Do it, then.”

.o.

Hanzo has grabbed him by the hair, and pushed him under. Jesse’s heart is jackrabbiting in his chest until he feels nauseous enough that his stomach revolts against the chili.

They shouldn’t be doing this. Not like this, and not in that unfortunate order, but neither of them has thought the whole thing through, he feels like.

There’s a second of his lungs burning, and him flailing as he immediately tries to go back up – and then the burn eases and his mind goes curiously blank. It couldn’t have been more than five seconds that Hanzo’s held his head underwater.

His body responds to it like it is the most natural thing. Jesse couldn’t say that he feels anything _open_ at the sides of his neck, but he can feel the water rushing in; an alien sensation in and off itself.

He blinks slowly, feeling sluggish and dreamy in the lukewarm bathwater, his limbs heavy as he hangs over the edge of the bathtub, the porcelain digging uncomfortably into his chest. It makes breathing more difficult but not at all impossible.

There’s no conscious effort to drag the water in; he just does it… until he thinks about it and it becomes impossibly difficult to do and instead of pulling the water down, he somehow manages to push it up into his mouth.

He convulses and chokes on it, which is when Hanzo pulls him back up by his long, shaggy hair.

Jesse sputters and gasps, blinking profusely as he feels like his world is turning on its head when breathing on land is harder than breathing underwater, but just like before, his body adapts smooth and without a hitch.

He spits out a mouth full of lukewarm bath water. He sits there, just staring ahead, one hand subconsciously pressed against his mildly aching chest.

When he glances up eventually, he feels like Hanzo is looking rather… concerned.

“What happened?” the seadragon asks reservedly, carefully putting his hands back in his lap.

Jesse’s gaze sticks to the movement, staring at how Hanzo’s fingers are mildly shaking before he curls them into the palms of his hands.

He reaches up, wiping the wet strands of hair out of his face, head trying to wrap around what just happened. It couldn’t even have been three minutes, all in all.

“I think… I breathed underwater,“ he says eventually. He stands on shaking legs and stumbles to the bathroom mirror, twisting his head and trying to peer at his neck, but… there‘s nothing there.

“I could just suddenly breathe. An’ then you pulled me back and... I could still breathe.“

In the mirror he sees Hanzo staring at him in a mix of fascination and disquiet.

“So… what does it mean, you reckon?“ he asks to break the quiet when Hanzo just sits and stares at him, his face twitching in complicated patterns.

„That…“ Hanzo stops and stands slowly, back ramrod straight and hands folding behind his back. „That you are one of us…“

„How does that even work?“

„I don‘t know,“ Hanzo responds softly and turns, wandering out of the bathroom and leaving Jesse to mop up all the water from the floor.

.o.

Jesse is not sure about the atmosphere when he gets into the living room, but it is… at least not hostile, surprisingly enough. He would have thought that Hanzo would be enraged and in denial or something, but instead he is sitting very primly on one end of Jesse’s old couch and is just quietly staring at his hands that are lying on his knees.

He had wanted to ask him more about all of this, but the question get kinda… stuck when he sees how lost Hanzo looks. The seadragon has also made it very clear that he did not have any answers to them.

_Has this ever happened before? Can only Hanzo do it, or Genji as well? Can all humans be converted or was Jesse special? Was it just a freak accident in which they were simply surprisingly… compatible?_

That his sudden change had to do with Hanzo’s venom in his system was indisputable for him. Maybe Lúcio needed to conduct some tests after all…

Jesse sits down on the couch with a gusto that has Hanzo slightly bounce on his side and throw him a dirty glare. Jesse ignores it in favor of grabbing the remote and throwing his arm over the backrest, encompassing Hanzo’s shoulders loosely.

“Alright. Enough gloom and doom for the night. How ‘bout we just calm down, and I’ll try t’ find one of the classics for ya.”

“The classics,” Hanzo echoes flatly, obviously not understanding, but when Jesse turns on the TV, he seems to forget to ask, focusing in on the sound and picture with the air of a shark. It sends goosebumps down Jesse’s spine.

Hanzo is very cultivated and reserved, but there simply are mannerisms that just _scream_ predator. Jesse is taller; bigger in the hips, sturdy and a damn good brawler, but he feels like he wouldn’t want to get on Hanzo’s bad side either way. Hanzo would go directly for the throat and probably rip it out with his teeth without second thought.

There’s a movie running. Jesse doesn’t pay it too much attention because Hanzo is frankly more interesting. He is damn pretty, that’s for sure.

“So…” he tries awkwardly, suddenly very aware of the arm he has behind Hanzo’s shoulders. it would be easy to let it slip down and curl around him. He has no idea how Hanzo would react, frankly. “How do you like the human world so far? It’s different than below water, huh?”

Hanzo’s brows twitch as if he were annoyed and wanted to shush Jesse, but when the question registers, he turns to look at him. His irises are so dark that his pupils are almost indistinguishable from them, but Jesse is close enough now to be able to see how they blow wide at his sudden proximity.

Frankly, he is a bit surprised himself about how close he has come to Hanzo already.

The sea dragon’s eyes narrow a little but he does not push Jesse away. He watches him with quiet curiosity.

“It is… different. Yes. I can not say if I like it, yet.” He pauses for a moment, then allows regally: “I can not say if I do _not_ like it, either. It is all just…” He seems to be searching for the words, so Jesse supplies haltingly: “Too much?”

“I… suppose so. Yes. It is a lot to take in all at once.” He lowers his gaze and looks at his hands which are primly folded on his lap.

Jesse swallows against a dry throat and moves his hand, lightly touching a strand of Hanzo’s ink black hair, rubbing it between his fingers to feel how soft it has become after a wash and without any of the salt in it.

“I am sure it will become easier,” he says softly. “The longer and more often that you stay out here. There’s a lot to see…”

Hanzo nods slowly. There is a steep fold between his thick brows as he seems to intensely think about something. Jesse looks down as well now, staring at Hanzo’s square, strong hands.

There’s a moment in which he remembers them pushing him beneath the water’s surface, making his belly seize as his body reacts to the reminder of just an hour earlier. He blinks slowly and takes his arm away, both of them sitting side by side and just… thinking.

“Jesse.”

Jesse jerks slightly at the sudden sound of his name. His head swivels and he stares at Hanzo, heart beating a bit faster.

“...Yeah?”

“We need to find out more about this. Your friend. From this… facility. Can he help us?”

Jesse blinks slowly. He hadn’t expected that. Hanzo looks up, fixing him with his intense, dark eyes. Jesse feels pinned like a little insect.

“You mean… Lúcio? Uhm. Yeah. I… guess so. We could try.”

Hanzo nods regally, eyes sliding back towards the television.

“We should,” he says, seemingly blocking Jesse out immediately afterwards, letting him sit there and just stare at him.

What a weird beginning to an… exciting evening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poll for the next chapter was:
> 
> Who sees Hanzo and Jesse walking outside?
> 
> Louis and Miller
> 
> Genji and Zenyatta


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rather than Louis and Miller, Genji and Zenyatta see Hanzo and Jesse...

Hanzo has never watched TV, so Jesse is not necessarily surprised when they are sitting there until late into the night.

It is… comfortable. The bone deep scare from the bathroom episode earlier has finally dissipated and left Jesse just kind of floating. His thoughts wander while he gracefully let Hanzo have the remote and zap to his heart’s content.

It is as surreal as it is amusing to watch a mythical creature be so immersed in something so mundane, but it probably makes sense. In any case, Jesse enjoys the down time. To just sit and let himself calm down, the knowledge of what he has potentially become always in the back of his mind but not causing the distress he would have thought it would.

As his grandmother had always liked to say: it is what it is. It isn’t lethal, and since he had started to hang out with Hanzo, the siren call of the sea had dulled into a soft little whisper at the back of his mind that was easily ignored.

It’s late enough that the softcore porns are starting to play. When Hanzo gets stuck on one, Jesse doesn’t really notice it at first, looking at the screen but not actively watching anything until he hears the soft moan floating through the room.

He blinks and starts to pay more attention. He glances to Hanzo, who is staring at the screen with the same severe frown he’s had on for most of the evening. He begins to wonder if that is Hanzo’s resting face.

“What are ya thinkin’?” he asks softly. It’s the first time in a couple hours that he’s spoken, but Hanzo does not flinch. He glances at him out of the corner of his eyes with a gaze that can cut a man to the bone.

“What do you mean?” he asks back disdainfully enough that Jesse almost does not want to pursue the line of questioning. He plows on, though, because that is what he does best. He stretches his arm out along the backrest, fingers lightly starting to play with the silky strands of jet black hair.

“That little film there you’re watching…”

“What of it?”

Jesse can’t help but smirk. Goddamn, he’s never had someone as infuriating as this man. He can see in the twist of the corner of Hanzo’s mouth that he knows very well what he tries to get at, but he lets Jesse hunger on an outstretched arm.

It’s as if he was used to dealing with bratty boys. Hm.

“Do you like it?”

Hanzo directs his gaze back forward. He looks unimpressed by the happenings; two people slowly making out on the screen, music playing in the background. Jesse can’t be sure in the darkness that has crept up on them, but he thinks that Hanzo’s high cheekbones are decidedly flushed.

Instead of playing, he just goes for it and outright cups the back of Hanzo’s neck. Hanzo stiffens, but he does not push Jesse away (which is a win in his book).

He pushes a little closer, until their thighs are pressed together knee to hip. His hand keeps a calm, steady grip of the back of his neck, though he is not squeezing down.

“You and your brother,” Jesse murmurs softly, leaning around a little to look into Hanzo’s face. The sea dragon is staring straight ahead; maybe watching the two on the screen slowly roll through sheets and hump beneath strategically placed shawls. “You’ve been alone all your lives, haven’t you? No other people you could… play with…”

Hanzo’s dark brows twitch slightly like he wants to say that this isn’t true, but he keeps quiet, bottomless eyes slowly sliding over to Jesse, watching him with a scrutinizing gaze that has his heart pounding.

“Why do you ask?” he replies, his voice dropped into an almost whisper just like Jesse’s had been.

Jesse feels… flustered. He’d imagined Hanzo to be a blushing, flushing virgin, but he almost seems… predatory, staring at Jesse, letting him touch him with an air of superiority Jesse imagines only a King can pull off.

“Jus’ sayin’. If ya wanna fool around a bit…”

Hanzo’s intense gaze slides off to the side again, and back to the screen, watching the happenings.

“You mean like them?” he inquires politely. Jesse flushes, his belly feeling hot and molten. He usually doesn’t go for the dark and gloomy types, but Hanzo seems to have him just… hooked. Jesse feels drawn to him like he’s feeling drawn to the sea.

To not try to endear himself to Hanzo… to not grovel at his feet trying to become the most important thing in his life seems… unthinkable in this moment.

“Yeah,” he rasps, his thumb slowly rubbing circles into Hanzo’s neck. He lets his hand move, cupping the side of Hanzo’s jaw and urging him to turn his head back to him. Hanzo, to his utter delight, lets him manipulate his body just as he wishes.

His eyelids are lowered some. Jesse is unprepared for the heavy lidded gaze he is suddenly confronted with. His belly slowly flips over itself.

He leans in slowly, reaching for Hanzo’s hand and letting his fingers rest on the back of it. He is close enough that he can feel the soft tickling of Hanzo’s breath over his beard.

He is just waiting for Hanzo to get the jitters and tell him this has all been a bluff, but... Hanzo is not pushing him away. He is, however, also not making it any easier, sitting there unmoving as a rock and letting Jesse do all the work, not giving him any indication of whether what is happening pleases him or not.

Motherfucker. Jesse’s never had as unresponsive a partner as him.

Still, he slightly tilts his head, nose brushing against Hanzo’s. In the split second before he presses their mouths together, he can hear Hanzo inhale sharply.

Has he maybe been waiting for Jesse to chicken out in turn? The thought tickles Jesse unexpectedly. He pulls slightly away again, huffing a breathless little laugh, heart thumping straight out of his chest.

Hanzo makes a soft noise. His gaze that had looked so intimidatingly seductive to Jesse earlier, looks a lot more dazed and confused to him up close like this.

“Is this all?” Hanzo murmurs skeptically.

Just… two dudes doing dude things.

Jesse doesn‘t answer and just presses back in, hand tightening around Hanzo‘s palm, the other still at his jaw. The music is still coming from the TV, but Jesse‘s heart makes a valiant attempt at drowning it out.

He can‘t remember the last time he‘s felt like this. Years - _decades _ago, maybe; stealing his first kisses behind the school gym.

He drags his mouth against Hanzo‘s lips. Hanzo showered earlier, but Jesse can smell the sea on his skin, salty and exciting. He doubts Hanzo would ever not smell like it.

The sea is Hanzo. And Hanzo is the sea.

The dragon‘s lips go soft and so very responsive beneath him. It is laughably easy to gently urge him to open up and let him push his cheeky tongue between his lips.

Hanzo jerks a little as if he wants to pull back, but Jesse‘s hand is slipping to the back of his head, carefully holding him steady as he further tilts his head. He‘s playful about it; slipping the sea dragon a little bit of tongue every once in a while; just dipping in to get a taste, and feel right from the source how damnably sharp those teeth are.

His erection… is just an afterthought. Jesse doesn‘t even notice it for a while with how tuned into Hanzo he is. It is just there; throbbing and a bit achy just from him dipping the tip if his tongue cheekily against the corner of Hanzo‘s mouth, blood surging through his body like a tidal wave when the dragon finally turns slightly to try and catch it. Jesse feels like crowing in victory.

It’s a bit embarrassing to get a stiffie just from a bit of kissing, but he’s not fighting against it. Why should he, after all?

He is turning his body more and more until he is half kneeling on the couch, bearing down on Hanzo who surprisingly enough allows him the space and lets himself get crowded against the backrest.

Hanzo is gripping Jesse’s hip, the fingertips with those mean, sharp nails digging in so hard that he knows there’ll be bruises in just a few moments. He grunts, reaching down and bending Hanzo’s fingers away from trying to puncture his skin.

“Easy now,” he drawls against the wet, open mouth. Hanzo is panting, eyes heavy lidded but never completely closed, it seems. They’re velvety dark and glistening, but always watching.

Jesse coaxes him to curl his arm around his hip and place his hand on the small of his back, then pushes back in for more kisses.

He feels drunk in the best way possible. The scare of getting pushed underwater to test his abilities has been shoved far to the back of his mind as he sucks at the tip of Hanzo’s tongue and listens to his little pained sounding groan.

The sound hooks right behind Jesse’s navel, it feels like. It… aches, radiating out to the very tips of his fingers. He grabs the sides of Hanzo’s face, holding him still to bite at his lips and rudely push inside his mouth, trying to get rid of that ache that only grows the more fucked out little noises the sea dragon seems to be pushing right down Jesse’s throat.

When Jesse finally manages to pull away, he feels like his head has been seconds from popping like a ripe melon. His whole body sings to the tune Hanzo has set, his cock an aching, fat sausage down his pants leg, throbbing and dribbling needily; adding to the tacky feeling in his underwear.

“Damn…” he whispers, thumbs slowly dragging over Hanzo’s sharp cheekbones. The dragon’s lids lower slowly, lashes briefly touching the tops of his cheeks, before he opens his eyes fully once more, looking straight at Jesse’s flushed, out-of-it expression.

Behind them, the movie has long since moved on, but they sit for quite a while longer.

.o.

Genji has his eyes closed, head and shoulders in Zenyatta’s lap, enjoying a session of getting his hair carded through by Zenyatta’s calm fingers, when suddenly it just… hits him.

His eyes open and he sits up straight, nearly slipping back into the water of the little cave. He turns and stares at Zenyatta with wide eyes while Zenyatta calmly gazes back, the plump little octopus curling and uncurling its tentacles.

“Hanzo is not here.”

“He isn’t,” Zenyatta agrees calmly, slowly folding his long fingers together in his lap as he waits for Genji to make his point.

Genji slips into the water while he tries to gather his thoughts enough to feel his brother in the space around them. His heart starts beating faster the longer it takes him to finally touch his brother.

He’s not even conscious of turning around in the water again and again as he searches until he finally faces the direction of where Hanzo’s cool aura is emanating from weakly. Zenyatta is watching him patiently, until Genji looks up at him, eyes wide and mouth open.

“He’s not in the water…” he says slowly, goosebumps rising all over his body in excitement and a little bit of dread. “Do you think something happened to him?”

Dismayed at the thought, Genji twists once more to look up at Zenyatta who thoughtfully tilts his head this way and that as he thinks it over.

“I wouldn’t know,” he says finally, still in that careful way he’s adapted since his kidnapping. “I can’t feel him like you can. But… it is rather uncharacteristic of him.”

Genji nods along. The thought of Hanzo having been taken has him feel cold and a bit panicky. He snatches Zenyatta’s hand and pulls on it to drag him into the water.

“Come! We need to find him!”

Zenyatta follows along willingly enough, but his gently humming voice is filled with doubt as he says: “How? If he’s on land…”

“That’s no problem. Come on!”

.o.

Jesse is strutting next to Hanzo like a peacock but he really can’t help it. He feels on top of the world after having made out with the sea dragon all night and waking to find that yeah… this hasn’t been a dream, and Hanzo actually is there, rolled up into a small ball after kicking off the blanket.

Hanzo himself doesn’t look like he’s feeling quite as well as Jesse. Sleeping outside of water apparently must first be learned; he looks like he has the mother of all stiff necks.

Jesse wanted to drive to the lab, but a look at Hanzo’s face whenever he watches cars rush by has him rethink the idea, so walking it is. It’s a nice day; a little grey but dry. Hanzo seems more than happy to be on his own two feet and watch the early morning outskirts of the city as they make their way towards the lab Lúcio works in.

When the squat building starts to come into view, Jesse pulls out his phone to alert him of their visit. Hanzo’s head is turned to the left where the sea so close, they can smell it. He looks… longing, even after just a day out of there.

The water is relatively calm, lapping at the beach and crashing at the rocks. The vegetation around these parts is mainly consistent of high, stiff reeds that gently bend and sway with the wind brushing over them.

Jesse’s gaze moves over the side of Hanzo’s face, his earlier lightheartedness somewhat waning when he sees how clearly the creature is still attached to his home.

Just like Jesse is to his own world. He shakes his head, trying to clear it from these thoughts. It’s just been one night, and just a bit of making out for God’s sake, it didn’t mean-

“Hanzo!”

Out of the high reed, something suddenly shoots out towards them. Jesse can feel his face going slack when he sees a naked man with sea green hair running at them. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out who that is.

There are no guards at the gate leading onto the lab’s grounds, but there are cameras even so that turn towards the commotion as Genji curls his arms exuberant around Hanzo’s throat. However, it is not those cameras that alert interested parties to what is happening outside – it is Zenyatta slowly standing up from the hiding place among the reeds, watching reluctantly what happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poll for next chapter had been....
> 
> Next chapter
> 
> -Lúcio plays with Gabriel  
-Jesse goes swimming  
-Hanzo stays dry  
-Genji explores  
-Zenyatta frets  
-Someone makes a move


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lúcio plays with Gabriel... Or does Gabriel play with Lúcio?
> 
> warnings: sexual content

Lúcio has taken a copy of Jesse’s results with him just so he could stare at them some more while doing his usual walk back home.

It would be faster to use an uber of course, and most nights he would use it just so he would get faster back home to Gabriel, but he also enjoys the quiet of the sea and the clean air as he made his way into the outskirts of the urban area.

_“Your DNA… it’s not really human anymore.”_

His own words kept echoing in his head. He stared at the paper in his hands, thumbs brushing softly over the few lines that showed how Jesse’s biological make up had changed significantly from that of a regular human being.

Hanzo who had accompanied him had looked mildly interested but like his thoughts were somewhere else entirely. Like he had wanted to get back out of the lab as soon as possible. Maybe he felt that his kind has not been treated very well in their walls.

Or maybe something was waiting outside. The siren call of the sea?

Jesse had been a lot more focused than his companion. Seeing them together so far from the water – Hanzo even wearing Jesse’s clothes – had been a shock of course, but one that had taken a backseat once Jesse had told him about the fascinating new developments concerning his ability to… breathe underwater.

Lúcio comes to a standstill and stares at the papers in his hands. There was so much to digest, and he has no idea what was the most pressing issue of them all.

Jesse’s face keeps swimming into the forefront of his mind. He had looked absolutely gutted when he told him the results of the tests. Scared too. As well he might be. Lúcio tries to imagine how he would feel in his shoes. Would he be just as scared? Or would he… like it?

The thought of becoming like Gabriel is… not as terrifying as it should have been. He’s thought often about grabbing an oxygen tank and diving into Gabriel’s tank for the half hour it would last. He is sure Gabriel would thoroughly enjoy the company and attention that would give him.

Maybe they could even go out into the sea and life where Gabriel would be able to properly swim once more. Lúcio would be there to watch out for him, so his missing tentacles wouldn’t be too much of an issue and-

Lúcio blinks at the papers in his hands. He very slowly folds them, ignoring how his shaking hands make them rustle. He puts them into his pocket and keeps on going, feeling weirded out by his own vivid fantasies.

Jesse needs help. This isn’t the time to… daydream about running away with Gabriel. Yet on the other hand… what _could_ he do? It is not like he can revert whatever is happening to Jesse’s organism. He has no idea how something like it can be even possible in the first place.

By the time he fishes his keys out of his pocket and unlocks his front door, his head is aching, and the giddy anticipation that had filled him from thinking about being able to swim with Gabriel has made place for an ashen taste in his mouth.

He puts the papers down on the little table right beside the door where they will stay for the rest of the night. He listens in on whether he can hear Gabriel in the living room, but there’s no gentle water lapping of water or the rustling of someone moving against fabric.

All the little hairs along Lúcio’s arms stand on end. For a moment, his breath catches and his heartbeat spikes dramatically as he wonders what he would do if he stepped into the living room and Gabriel simply wasn’t… there.

Then the overhead speakers gently crackle to life and he almost collapses like a puppet with its strings cut.

Gabriel’s deep, silky voice curls down to him in a purr: “I want to play… I’ve been very good today.”

Lúcio closes his eyes and breathes deeply. When he opens them again he realizes he is clutching the edge of the little side table hard enough to hurt. He slowly lets go and kneads his fingers.

“Yeah? You’ve been good?” he calls out, his voice a little scratchy from the beginnings of a panic attack that is slowly dissipating. He slips out of his shoes while he listens to Gabriel’s voice from overhead.

“_Very_ good,” he purrs. It feels like fingers gently scratching along Lúcio’s spine. He smiles a little and wipes a hand over his face, breathing deeply and shaking out his limbs to get the last of the uneasiness out of his system before he makes his way finally into the living room.

He looks around, but can’t find Gabriel anywhere. It does make his heart flutter nervously but since he’s heart Gabriel over the loudspeakers he knows he has to be _somewhere_ around here.

“Where are you?”

“Seek me,” Gabriel croons. Who would have thought how playful he could be? Since Lúcio has started to actually work with him and keep him nice and occupied, Gabriel has shown him facets of himself that he had not thought existed.

It is… exciting. It makes him wonder just how much more is hidden inside the octopus hybrid. Just what he could tickle out of him yet.

“So you are hiding from me?” he asks as he wanders through the living room, peeking behind furniture, and even behind the curtains even though he knows for a fact that a man of Gabriel’s size couldn’t possibly manage anything like it. Still, he knows from experience just how intelligent Gabriel is… and how capable to get out of whatever place he does not want to be in.

“Maybe,” Gabriel responds. Even through the speaker system Lúcio can tell just how _smug_ the octopus hybrid is. “I have a present for you.”

“A present?” Lúcio says immediately, feeling flustered and surprised. What kind of present could Gabriel have for him? He couldn’t go out of here. He didn’t have any money. “What kind of present?”

“Seek me,” Gabriel just says again. Lúcio’s heartbeat picks up. He feels so giddy; almost in a childlike way as he makes his way through his house to look for a six foot tall scarred man.

When he finds him, Gabriel isn’t much hidden at all. He’s right smack dab in the middle of Lúcio’s bed, his big fist around his big cock, the tapered head of it a dark shiny red. As Lúcio watches, standing in the doorframe and staring with his mouth slightly hanging open, Gabriel slowly squeezes down again, and more wetness seeps out from between his fingers, as if teased out from the suckers Lúcio knows line its underside.

“You didn’t even try to hide,” he says softly. He tries to sound strict, but Gabriel does not look chastised at all. He is staring at Lúcio with his big dark eyes, fist slowly pulling down on his cock until he can show the wet glint of it off.

Lúcio slowly licks his lips. He almost wants to close the door behind him like he does whenever he masturbates, feeling strangely shy at the thought of Gabriel overhearing the wet slide of his fist along his cock but… that’s not necessary anymore, is it?

“You want to play?” he asks softly. He hasn’t trussed Gabriel up in a couple days, waiting for him to ask for it. Gabriel blinks slowly. He takes his hand away from his cock, letting it stand there proudly jutting into the air, the silky foreskin bunched in folds around the base, suckers looking wet and like they’d feel so impossibly good popping one by one into Lúcio.

“I don’t,” comes the gentle croon from above. Lúcio bites the tip of his tongue, coming closer slowly.

“No? What then?”

His bedsheets look mussed, he realizes. Like Gabriel has been rolling over them for a few hours now. Waiting. Dragging himself over Lúcio’s bed to drown in his smell as he slowly got hard and desperate.

“No play this time,” Gabriel rasps over the speakers. His face looks naked and open as he stares at Lúcio with a desperation that startles him. He sits up slowly, his stump restlessly shifting over the bed. When he speaks next, he is using his mouth proper which never fails to pluck a secret little cord in Lúcio. “I just want you… please.”

He shouldn’t. Oh, he really shouldn’t. _They_ shouldn’t. Gabriel has been… entrusted to him. He should not…

Gabriel is reaching for him, curling his big hands slowly around his forearms and almost lifting him onto the bed. He rolls, burying Lúcio beneath his large body, nose rubbing against Lúcio’s cheek. He cuddles like a puppy… or maybe a kitten. His erection is pressing against Lúcio’s leg, big and warm and distracting even through the fabric separating them.

Gabriel humps slowly, hips hunching as he drags his suckered cock against Lúcio’s thigh. He can practically feel all that delicious pre-cum soaking into him. The air smells thick and salty and warm; kind of like the sea but not.

He curls his arms around Gabriel’s shoulders and holds on for the ride, letting him rub up on him and nuzzle into his throat without giving him any orders for now. It feels good to just lie there and let himself be overwhelmed by a big, amorous hybrid.

“If you scratch me,” Lúcio whispers against Gabriel’s ear, his implant digging into Lúcio’s cheek, “would I become like you?”

His body is thrumming, thighs spreading to let Gabriel’s broad hips slip between them and let him hump right up against his crotch. After just a second, though, the movement stops and Gabriel lifts his head, his dark eyes staring quietly at Lúcio, mouth opening a little to show rows of sharp teeth.

“What?” he whispers softly, his sharp claws lightly brushing between the rows of tightly braided hair. It makes goosebumps break out over Lúcio’s body like snow raining down on him starting from his scalp.

“Jesse,” Lúcio says softly, body tight and hot and singing from being crushed into the bed by Gabriel. “He is becoming like Hanzo. Like… the hybrid that has injured him. He’s changing. His body is.”

Gabriel is staring at him mutely, seemingly frozen in time if it were not for his fingers keeping up their slow, hypnotizing petting. When he does not respond, Lúcio reaches up and frames his face in his palms, thumbs slowly sweeping over his cheekbones.

“Would I change? If you hurt me?” he asks softly, heart thumping fast and fierce in his chest.

Gabriel blinks slowly.

“I do not know,” he replies slowly. He is not speaking through the overhead system, the implant on his temple remaining dark. His voice so close is doing things to Lúcio that has his insides curling up into complicated patterns. He doesn’t know if what he is feeling is giddy, stupid anticipation or fear. He can feel himself getting drawn in rapidly even though Gabriel is not trying to manipulate him into anything this time.

“Would you like to change? Become like me?” Gabriel asks back. When has he learned to speak so perfectly? Why has Lúcio never been as aware of it as now, staring into his deep, dark eyes, getting crushed into the bed by his heavy body?

His fingers curl, short nails digging into Gabriel’s skin. He slowly drags down, scratching stripes over his back, and watching the hybrid just accept the pain that comes from it. Revelling in it even, if his eyes fluttering shut and his lip curling is anything to go by.

“I don’t know,” Lúcio lies.

Gabriel’s eyes open at that and he stares at him. Lúcio has a feeling that he knows he’s just been lied to, but for some reason he lets Lúcio get away with it. He does get excited, though, hips resuming their humping grind with more fervor, digging in until it aches deliciously.

Lúcio hisses through his teeth, head falling back, showing off the line of his throat as he curls his legs tighter around Gabriel’s hips and humps up against him in turn. Letting him rut him through his clothes like a teen.

“Good… good… goodgoodgood,” Lúcio gasps out, starting to slur as the deep grinds hurt his cock so perfectly. He’s never been into pain, but he’s also never gotten _crushed_ like this. It makes it difficult to breathe. Dark spots are exploding in front of his eyes, and the tips of his fingers begin to prickle as if his arms are in danger of falling asleep.

He really wants to somewhat squeeze his hand between them and curl it around Gabriel’s slippery cock, tease the silky little suckers with his thumb, but Gabriel is crushing him so deep into the bed that he doesn’t think a sheet of paper would even fit between them at this point.

“T-Tell me-” Gabriel gasps suddenly, his silky voice so close to Lúcio’s ear making him feel like he’s under an electric current, body going taut, heart seemingly stopping for a few beats before resuming a frantic tattoo against his ribcage.

Gabriel doesn’t continue, but Lúcio knows what he wants anyway.

“Good boy,” he whispers, and Gabriel is off like a shot; the big, muscled man trembling through his orgasm and leaving Lúcio feel like a god himself.

He lets him go through it, petting down his back and cupping his head, crooning at him sweet praise until he can nudge him over. The bed bounces under the weight of this mountain of a man flopping down onto his back.

Lúcio crawls over him and straddles one of Gabriel’s thick thighs, rutting against it through his clothes and chasing his own orgasm. He’s staring at Gabriel’s mouth; the sharp teeth he can see there. His hands, curled like cute kitten paws and topped with dangerous claws.

Would Lúcio change if Gabriel slashed at him?

Would he?

Would he?

He can fumble his cock out of the confines of his clothes, somehow. It isn’t that he would particularly mind blowing his load warm and creamy into his underwear, but the thought of _marking_ Gabriel is suddenly at the very forefront of his brain. It is impossible not to follow along.

Gabriel lies there, sweet as a kitten. A predator waiting to see what is going to happen. Glad to follow Lúcio’s lead along. Glad to do anything Lúcio asks of him.

His dark eyes flick down the second Lúcio gets his hand around his cock, nostrils flaring and mouth becoming slack as he stares at the way Lúcio’s thumb swirls over the wet tip, dragging over it again and again in quick succession as he focuses his attention on the sensitive nerve endings there, leaving the rest of his shaft alone.

He looks down, heated gaze sliding off of Gabriel’s fascinated, open face and just staring at the broad expanse of his plump chest while he drags his balls against his thigh and polishes the swollen tip of his cock against his palm.

Lúcio takes his hands away when he comes. He does not moan or shout, but he breathes in sharp little exhales as stars explode in his vision, half obscuring the sight of his cum splashing in thick streaks over Gabriel’s body.

Marking him.

Like Lúcio wants to be marked.

\---

Louis replays the footage again and again. Miller is somewhere at his elbow, staring at the screen as well. The robot had given them some good pictures, but what they were seeing was simply… impossible.

“Those are the… aren’t those the test subjects?!”

Miller is clawing the back of Louis’ chair hard enough to jostle him around as he leans forward, eyes glued to the screen.

“They are, aren’t they?! They got legs?!”

His voice is cracking right into Louis’ ear, making him wince and pull his head away.

“Yes…” he murmurs, staring at the back of the naked man hugging some other man. There was no mistaking it. Those were the test subjects. They’ve been right outside their gates and Louis hadn’t known a single thing about it.

His hand slowly curls into a fist.

“What’s that? Aren’t you surprised?” Miller turns to stare at him, his face pale and mouth slack from seeing the creatures out and about, walking on land.

Louis grunts and shakes his head.

“Of course I’m surprised. How the Hell did they manage to get out of the water?”

It’s only show, of course. As he stares at them he remembers his own little excursion to the pier. How it had felt as the water had pushed against the sudden webbing that had formed. He reaches over, pressing his hand against the still faintly aching wounds, then rolls his shoulders.

“We gotta start doing this in shifts. If the monsters have a means to get out of the water now they will do so again soon I assume. I want to get the drop on them. The way this one walked it looked like they’re not really used to being outside, at least. Fishes out of water. Literally.”

Miller slowly nods along, his eyes once again glued to the screen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The poll for next chapter had been...
> 
> Genji is out and about now (under the watchful eye of his brother). Where do we put our focus, though?
> 
> Genji/Zenyatta
> 
> McCree/Hanzo


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rather than putting a focus on Genji/Zenyatta as the both are out of the ocean now, we keep the focus on McCree/Hanzo...
> 
> warnings: incest; sexual content

Jesse doesn’t think he’s ever had this many guests in his little apartment. While he is sociable enough, he’s also a lazy piece of shit that likes to either be on his own and drink while watching TV, or just have that… stimulating… one-on-one experience.

With that weird little friend of Genji’s there was no other option but to have them all in his apartment. While Genji and Hanzo surely looked the parts, Zenyatta… didn’t. The robot was human shaped but still very clearly that: a robot.

Jesse sits and stares at him in awe for the first few hours while Hanzo tells his brother all about what it meant to be out in the human world in a very condescending way that would have had Jesse’s hackles rise but does not seem to phase Genji.

Jesse wasn’t all too sure whether Genji was actually listening as he kept prowling the apartment and made very few comments about what Hanzo was telling him, but Hanzo did not look too bothered at all.

Jesse clothed them – Genji looked excited – and fed them – Genji looked excited – and tried to let them figure out whether being outside of their natural habitat at the same time was something they actually wanted to do. While Genji seemed a fun enough companion to have around, Jesse felt decidedly overwhelmed by the prospect of trying to wrangle three individuals that were as wildly… out of water… as these.

He was sitting at his kitchen table, hands around a cup of coffee, staring at Hanzo pulling Genji closer and leaning in to whisper urgently into his ear – when there is a tug at his sleeve. He turns around and flinches back as he sees Zenyatta’s weird octopus face staring back at him. He still hasn’t quite gotten used to the… general look of the robot.

“Ah…”

“Yeah?” Jesse asks, trying to not be rude. Zenyatta has been rather quiet up until now, but certainly not impolite. He watches as the robot slowly folds his long fingers together in front of him on the kitchen table.

“I should go.”

Jesse blinks slowly. He glances to the brothers again who are now sitting down on the couch, heads still stuck together, whispering amongst each other, then looks back to Zenyatta and twists around to him a little more.

“...what?”

“I should go,” Zenyatta repeats with his well-modulated voice. It is surprisingly deep for such a slender thing. The chubby octopus is moving its arms a bit faster now. It actually looks a bit distressed.

“I don’t understand. Do ya need water or somethin’? You can use my shower,” Jesse says softly, trying not to alert the brothers. He feels like them hearing any of this would just make things a lot more complicated.

Zenyatta slowly shakes the fishbowl that is his head. One hand flutters up and moves as if to lay over his eyes, but slides away again after just a few seconds. He radiates restless, uneasy energy.

“No. I… have to go. I need to go back. This is… not safe.”

Jesse wonders if he looks as confused as he feels. Zenyatta is twitching slightly, reminding him of a piece of machinery that is malfunctioning. He automatically leans slightly back even though he is suitably sure that Zenyatta won’t explode in his face.

“I can feel them checking in on my location. I am sure they will soon be coming-”

“Who’re they?” Jesse asks, stomach dropping considerably. What kind of conspiracy has he walked in on with open arms? He starts to feel nauseous.

Zenyatta doesn’t squirm, but he gets the distinct feeling that it is a close one. It’s surprising how expressive a hunk of metal with an octopus as a head can be.

“Miller and Louis… the gentlemen that have built me.”

Jesse slowly rubs a hand over his face, then drags his fingers through his hair, head curiously blank as he tries to figure out what Zenyatta wants to tell him. He glances to the brothers again who have stopped whispering to each other as far as he can tell but are still huddled close.

He turns his chair a little and leans closer to Zenyatta, voice pitched to a low rumble as he asks: “Is it dangerous if they come for you? Will they… punish you for leaving or something?”

The octopus’ little arms curl tightly in on themselves. For a second Jesse thinks he can glimpse something head shaped beneath the octopus – like it is simply a little rubber mask that has been pulled over the robot’s actual face – but he can’t be certain.

“I am not sure. I do not know whether the danger is directed at me or… them.” Zenyatta’s head moves minimally to indicate the brothers on the couch. “But the longer I am here, the worse it becomes. I am sure of it.”

Zenyatta jerks a little once more, a glitchy sound chirping from his voicebox for just a second before he falls quiet again.

“I don’t understand. Why didn’t you say anythin’ sooner?” Jesse asks with a frown, watching as the robot slightly leans forward as if wanting to curl in on himself. His long fingers slowly grasp each other.

“I could not. Their software has not allowed me to, but… I am out of range of most of the sensors now…” he trails off, apparently realizing that Jesse’s gaze is somewhat glazing over.

“Alright. I think I get it,” he murmurs after a moment of quiet deliberation. “So you don’t want those two… what did ya call ‘em… gentlemen? You don’t want them to have to come and get you. An’ I guess you’re tellin’ me because you don’t wanna worry your sweetheart.”

Zenyatta twitches again at that, though this time Jesse has the feeling that he is almost a bit sheepish. After a moment the octopus dips a little which kind of looks like a nod.

“Alright… shit… uh…” He drags a hand over his mouth and chin, eyes bouncing around his kitchen as he thinks. “You can’t go like this. I got a pretty long coat that should kind of conceal ya… uh… you think you can find yer way back alone?”

“Certainly.”

Jesse is about to stand, thoughts tumbling through his head before calm suddenly overtakes him like it does when he hears screams on the beach and knows he must haul ass. He plops himself back down, staring at Zenyatta with scrutinization.

“Are you sure about all this?”

Here, Zenyatta hesitates. He is quiet for a while, then replies slowly as if he has to search for every single word: “I have a… feeling. As hard as it might be to accept. I know for a fact that they have been watching him through me-” here, Zenyatta’s head barely swivels to indicate Genji across the room. “I can only extrapolate on what they might want from the two of them. I do not like it.”

Jesse presses a hand over his mouth, brows furrowed as he thinks. He leans further in and whispers: “You can’t just leave. They’d freak out.” Zenyatta doesn’t move, but he gets the feeling that he does not understand, so he corrects himself: “They would get very upset. Especially Genji.”

Zenyatta lowers his head somewhat. His fingers flex slowly; curling into loose fists and stretching out again.

“I suppose… you are correct. He would not take lightly to my disappearance. And if I were to tell him about it beforehand he would want to immediately follow after me.”

Jesse nods. He, too, has that feeling. He’s not been in contact with Genji as much as he has been with Hanzo, but the kid does seem very impulse driven. He might do something rash if he knew that Zenyatta was in danger, which is probably the reason Zenyatta has kept this to himself.

He sighs and rolls his head along his shoulders before rolling them.

“Come on. Stay here for the night so we can all get a bit of shut-eye- I mean sleep. And tomorrow I’ll bring y'all back to where you came from.”

Though he has to admit that he kind of… does not want Hanzo to leave. It seems they’re a done deal, however.

Zenyatta’s head tilts down again. It seems like he is staring at his hands, visibly torn.

Jesse reaches out and, after a second of hesitation, curls his hand around Zenyatta’s slim metal shoulder. He is shocked by how warm it feels against his palm. Like a… living being. He pulls his hand away again just short of snatching it back, and withstands the urge of rubbing his palm against his leg. He feels decidedly disturbed.

“It’s just a few hours, buddy. Nothing’ll happen, alright?” He murmurs with just the tiniest bit of a rasp in his voice.

Zenyatta doesn’t move for a few more seconds, apparently lost in thought, then nods.

“Very well. You are… correct. Please don’t-”

“Say anything to them? Yeah. Don’t have to tell me twice.”

.o.

Jesse would have liked to say that Zenyatta’s troubles had stuck with him, niggling at the back of his mind, but the truth of the matter is that the _sight_ he got treated to when he turned back around to look at the brothers has somewhat short circuited his brain.

He’s well aware of the porn trope of blonde twins making out for horny guys – it’s not like he hasn’t indulged as well – but he’s never considered it in actuality.

Hanzo and Genji aren’t twins and they sure as hell aren’t blond, but damn they look nice suckling on each other’s tongue.

“Hey now… what’s that?” he croons, slowly standing up and leaving Zenyatta behind because _damn_ he needs to see that action up close. His heart is beating something fierce, head trying to rationalize the sudden change in mood. Maybe he’s just… dreaming? It’s kinda… it’s kinda nasty, isn’t it?

He’s seen the porn, but he never figures that the actors are _actually_ related.

Seeing these two in particular make out in a decidedly non-familial fashion throws him for a loop.

His phone weighs heavily in his pocket. He kind of wants to film this. He’s close enough to hear the little smacking sounds the two make as Genji sucks on Hanzo’s lips until they are the same shade of bruised pink Jesse remembers from the other night.

He wants to say more, but his brain seems to be disconnected from the whole rest of his body. It apparently doesn’t take more than two pretty men (that just… _happen_ to be brothers) kissing like they’re starving for it to get him to shut up.

Their eyes are closed. They look like they are enjoying it like one would enjoy a fine whine. Genji’s arm moves. Jesse can’t see what he’s doing from his vantage point, but the low, rough moan from Hanzo sounds very familiar and grabs him right by the balls. He swallows, throat almost painfully dry. He wishes he had a nice cool beer but turning away from them just to get it out of the fridge seems like an impossible feet.

Genji pulls back. Jesse can hear the little smack when their wet lips disconnect and it slices right through him something fierce. They put their foreheads together.

Genji’s murmurs something and Hanzo dips his chin in the faintest of nods before his face goes slack because Genji’s arm is moving again.

Jesse creeps closer. He needs to see this. Up close. He can hear the softest shuffling behind him as Zenyatta moves but couldn’t even begin to imagine what he might think of the lewd display.

When he moves, Genji’s eyes slant over to him. There is something weird in them, glittering and dark as they are. He doesn’t want to say _feral_, but… ancient and mischievous at the same time, somehow. Enough to have Jesse stop in his tracks, his body prickling all over; prey paying attention to a predator that suddenly got them in their sights.

The brothers look so very human, it is easy to forget that they simply _aren’t_. Only with Hanzo as company for the past 24 hours – and especially after their shared moment of intimacy on that very couch – it had been easy to push that thought in the back of his mind. Sure, the skin was a bit rougher than should be possible, and their mannerisms were just… off sometimes but-

Genji is as much a fuckboy as they come. That much is obvious to Jesse whose heart rate has picked up considerably under the sly sideways stare. He’s not sure whether the brothers can pick up on that somehow, but Hanzo’s eyes are open as well now.

Genji grasps his brother’s jaw, making him turn his head so they can both look at Jesse standing there like a creep, flushed and sweaty, cock not hard but definitely chubby just from the sight of them kissing and fondling. From the adrenaline rushing through his body, knowing full well that they might be a bit smaller in stature than him but fully capable of ripping him apart.

“He seems interested, brother…” Genji murmurs. Hanzo’s dark gaze slides Jesse’s body down, then back up again. He is the slightest bit flushed, lips plump and red from Genji’s kisses – and probably sharp teeth worrying on the thin skin, he realizes when Genji grins and looks like a goddamn shark.

“He is. I played with him a bit,” Hanzo replies coolly as if he wasn’t grabbing on to his brother’s shirt so tight Jesse can see his knuckles turning white. As if they hadn’t been kissing so needily that Jesse had been able to hear to little smacks and sighs.

Jesse flushes at the blunt admittance and huffs out a little laugh, eyes trailing aside, hand carding through his hair.

“Sure did, darlin’. Was a pleasure,” he murmurs, trying to regain his footing once again.

His mark flares on his forearm and he hisses, clutching tight at it, eyes snapping back to Hanzo who has the barest of frowns on his face that smoothes back out when Jesse looks his way. Just as suddenly as the pain had come up, it vanishes again, leaving Jesse reeling.

Genji, as if he hadn’t noticed – or didn’t care, which Jesse found somewhat more likely – reaches up to card his fingers through his brother’s hair.

“Is it normal for humans to stare like that?” Genji asks, half hanging over the back of the couch to better ogle Jesse. “It’s exciting!”

Jesse can feel himself flush a ruddy red, sweat beading along his hairline. He is still gripping his forearm which is aching with phantom pains.

“I… don’t know how to answer this,” he admits after a moment of shoving yes’s and no’s through his head. He doesn’t think he could or should start to explain the intricacies of human sexuality to either of the two.

Genji is squinting at him, looking way too perceptive for his own good before he suddenly grins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The polls for this chapter had been:
> 
> What will Genji do?
> 
> Offer Jesse to keep watching
> 
> Offer Jesse to have a piece of his brother
> 
> (reminder that AO3 chapters are one week behind. If you want to know how to vote on the polls, go to my tumblr)


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Instead of offering Jesse to keep watching them make out, Genji offers him his whole brother so he'll have his hands free...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the moment updates are pushed to once a month instead of twice a month

“Jesse. Come here.”

Genji sounds so commanding that Jesse takes a step forward before he can think better of it. Hanzo’s face scrunches up, a hand shooting out to grab Genji by the shoulder and shake him slightly.

“What are you up to?”

Genji ignores him, instead keeping his focus on Jesse as he looks him up and down, then jerks his head.

“Come here,” he reiterates with a bit more emphasis. “You like my brother, don’t you?”

Jesse doesn’t just follow along like a brainless puppet this time, but he keeps close enough to almost touch the brothers, staring down at them on his couch. Damn, but they are a gorgeous pair. He can somewhat understand all those legends about mermaids and sirens and all that jazz – if all of them looked like those two beauties.

“I mean. He’s not hard on the eyes. Neither are you.”

Genji’s grin widens. Jesse doesn’t think he knows the expression but he obviously can extrapolate what he means.

The young sea dragon lifts his hand and cups his brother’s cheek, thumb dragging against one high cheek bone.

“He is beautiful, I know. Do you want to play with him? I got him nice and ready.”

Hanzo’s face darkens even more. He slaps Genji’s hand away from his face, but doesn’t say a thing.

Jesse, for his part, has already forgotten all about the conversation he just had with Zenyatta. His focus has narrowed solely on Genji and Hanzo, watching them interact, and not knowing how to respond to it.

Genji’s eyes flick to the side, just past Jesse; staring at Zenyatta behind him presumably. Jesse wonders vaguely what the robot might be thinking, suddenly having been thrust in the middle of such debauchery.

“You can have my brother for now,” Genji tells Jesse with the air of a magnanimous ruler after shifting his attention back to him. 

Jesse wonders if he is being used. Maybe as a distraction? Maybe big brother is getting in between some much needed alone time between Genji and his little lover robot, and he needed to get Hanzo’s attention shifted to something… or someone else.

Jesse does not know how he feels about being whored out… except that he does and he finds _likes_ it. At least when he is being actively thrown into Hanzo’s arms, it seems.

“You can not-” Hanzo starts, making as if to stand in his agitation, but Genji holds him and keeps him where he is, leaning in and whispering heatedly into his ear. Jesse is drifting closer but unable to hear what Genji is telling Hanzo.

The sea dragon’s eyes do slant over, looking Jesse up and down slowly as he listens to his brother’s words as a king might to an advisor. Jesse finds himself wanting to stand taller; like he needs to impress Hanzo despite already having had him basically in his lap just the night before.

Eventually, Hanzo leans back a little and hums. It draws Jesse’s gaze to his mouth, plump and red from… from kissing his brother. Suckling on his tongue. Moaning soft and delicious-

He is getting distracted again, rubbing a hand over his face. Could he blame that, too on the scratches on his forearm? He really wants to.

“Very well. Come here.” He spreads his arms as if to give a hug. Genji is beaming, slipping out from Hanzo’s side to get to Zenyatta, grasping his wrist and pulling him closer. Jesse throws them a short glance as he slips over the back of the couch, heart hammering. He’s too old for this… sleepover kind of shenanigans, really, but how could he say no to a man like Hanzo wanting to crawl into his lap and resume where they had left off last time?

It is insane. They’re all insane. As he vaults over the couch and comes to sit next to a sour looking Hanzo he wonders if this is even all… real. Or maybe he is lying in a hospital somewhere with severe brain damage, dreaming all of this up… the occasional sharp pain in his arm just from an infusion being changed…

Hanzo is right there, grasping his head and offering up his pink, kiss-swollen mouth, and his head goes blessedly empty. His mark is radiating warmth, prickling through his body and settling hot in his guts as he gently urges Hanzo to come closer, closer, closer still until he is sitting in his lap.

He is somewhat aware of movement in his peripheral vision as Genji tugs Hanzo to the other lumpy couch that Jesse got in his living room, but mostly he is focused on Hanzo, Hanzo, Hanzo. He is filling his head like the warmth is filling his body. It is a bit… scary, maybe. Jesse’s fancied people before. Has been… in love before, but it has never been like this. All consuming. Like he has to keep kissing Hanzo if he wants to _live_.

Hanzo is on him, slowly twisting his hips while urging Jesse’s head back so he can dominate the kiss, getting in deep and rubbing his slippery tongue against Jesse’s.

This is as scary as it is exciting. Jesse is no idiot, despite the way he behaved up until now. He knows that there is a weird connection between him and Hanzo due to the wound the sea dragon has given him. He knows that he is kind of… enslaved to the whims of this man, but the knowledge doesn’t help him to withstand his advances when he unselfconsciously grinds down against Jesse while his brother is right there next to him watching with a smug and self-satisfied expression as far as Jesse can out of the corner of his eyes.

He has to remind himself that the brothers have been alone for all their lives. At least as far as he’s been able to deduce. It would make sense that they are impossibly attached to one another. That they would share… everything.

A small spike of pain radiating from Jesse’s forearm has him hiss. Hanzo’s hands grasp his cheeks, fingers digging into the beard, forcing him to look at the sea dragon sitting on his lap, dark eyes thin with anger.

“Focus on _me_!” he orders sharply. Jesse nods quickly.

“Y-Yeah.. yeah, of course.”

He wonders if Hanzo has always been such a bitchy pillow princess, or whether he just feels like he can boss Jesse around like this. Part of him is glad that Hanzo does not feel anymore like he has to be cautious of Jesse.

Staring up at the handsome face, he curls his arms around him in a bear hug, pulling him deeper into his lap. One hand slides on Hanzo’s ass, urging his hips to hunch forward. He can see Hanzo’s nostrils flare, mouth opening slightly the moment he feels Jesse’s warm erection pressing against him.

This is a madhouse; Jesse with a lap full of the most gorgeous man he had ever seen, and his ears filled with the soft amorous murmurs of yet another handsome lad that tried his best to get into the pants of a robot of all people.

He doesn’t dare to look over to see how well that particular endeavor is going. He’s quite frankly concerned for his cock’s well-being, especially now that Hanzo is fumbling to open his pants. His brows are furrowed in concentration, fingers carefully working to slip the button through the hole and drag the zipper down. Jesse watches him do all of that, the pain from before just an afterthought once again.

Hanzo is fully in control of him, he thinks as he slowly curls his fingers around the hem of the sea dragon’s shirt and lifts it up. Hanzo pauses when he notices what Jesse is doing, but after a moment of consideration he takes his hands off of him to help in divesting him of the garment. It seems like he’s come to the conclusion that letting Jesse pay attention to how _pretty_ he is will only work in his favor.

Hanzo’s torso is completely hairless, which in and off itself is not too weird, but it does also accentuate the distinct… non-human aspects of him. Jesse curls his hands around Hanzo’s ribcage, thumbs slowly dragging along the underside of his plump pectoral muscles. He can feel the roughness of his skin; like fine sandpaper.

He lets his thumbs travel up, dragging over Hanzo’s nipples. The skin here feels more human; soft and sensitive, the tips hidden inside pudgy areolas. He has no idea whether all sea dragons have nipples like these or whether Hanzo is a special case, but he’s always had a _thing_ for inverted nipples.

Hanzo is sitting there easily, not reacting much either way as he watches Jesse like a hawk. It is intimidating for sure, but not enough to keep him from leaning in and sealing his mouth over Hanzo’s nipple, latching on and suckling harshly.

Above him, Hanzo finally reacts with a sharp inhale, hands grabbing Jesse’s shoulders, fingers digging in painfully.

Jesse stays where he is, suckling, changing up targets once to leave the other teat swollen dark with blood and glistening wet with saliva. Hanzo’s fingers eventually loosen their hard grip on him some, instead playing with his hair as he lets himself get serviced.

Not too far away Jesse can hear Genji’s near incessant murmurs as he tries his hardest to get into the robot’s pants – though he can’t make out distinct words.

He pulls off the second nipple with a wet pop, then leans up. He drags his lips and beard against Hanzo’s neck for but a second before the sea dragon stiffens sharply, hissing through his teeth. Jesse hesitates, feeling a faint phantom ache against his neck, and, remembering the sensitive gills that Hanzo has in his… other form… gentles his approach down.

This kind of making out is… it is intense. It goes to his head like sweet wine, leaving him dazed and almost reeling as he curls his arms around the man in his lap and has the dual sensation of feeling a phantom hug around his own body. He presses soft butterfly kisses against Hanzo’s neck, and feels them peppered over his own in a vague afterquake that has his toes curl in his boots.

It’s like making out with himself and yet not. A kind of decadent form of masturbation that has blood rush into his cheeks, heat washing through his body.

Hanzo is trembling slightly. Jesse can feel that he likes what is happening. It slowly dawns on him that their connection is not only one-way. Hanzo might have a larger sway over him, forcing his emotions onto Jesse – whether intentionally or not – but Jesse can also open himself up to them, it seems. Use them to pry into matters that Hanzo probably wouldn’t necessarily want him to pry into.

He presses one last, suckling kiss against the sensitive neck, feeling sparks – faint and dull – skittering through his own body, then leans against the backrest and just stares up at Hanzo, tongue slowly gliding over his lips.

There’s a bit of salt on them. Hanzo still smells like the ocean, too.

A soft static sound briefly flares next to them, and he can’t help but look over, seeing how Genji has his face buried similarly against Zenyatta’s neck, his hand curled around the other side, fingers lightly woven into a bunch of delicate looking cables.

Zenyatta’s hands are nervously fluttering around Genji’s shoulders and head before finally settling in his hair, the static buzzing sound growing louder and fainter in irregular intervals.

Hanzo, apparently annoyed that he once again is no longer the sole focus, leans down and into him to test the sharpness of his teeth against Jesse’s collar bone, hands impatiently pulling on his clothes… but Jesse can’t quite pull his eyes away from the sight of Genji’s fingers crawling up Zenyatta’s neck, toward what looks to him like a small button.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Polls for next chapter had been...
> 
> 'Will Genji push the button?'
> 
> Yes
> 
> No


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Genji presses the button...

“Uhhh…”

The sound is a bit hesitant and not as loud as it could be. He can see Genji’s finger’s pass over the little nub and travelling away before pausing and actually rounding back toward it to finger it curiously.

Jesse feels a foreboding sensation prickling through his body; strong enough to make even Hanzo pause for a second and pull his head away, squinting at Jesse with a weird expression. He follows Jesse’s gaze, calmly watching as his brother tries to get the robot to grind into his lap.

He doesn’t see the button underneath Genji’s slowly circling finger; he only sees his brother trying to teach a computer some new hot tricks.

Jesse can feel Hanzo’s annoyance mounting even before he turns back to him to show him that epic bitch face that’s kind of really, _really_ hot but also kind of makes his balls want to crawl back up into his body.

“Don’t look at him,” Hanzo tells him, grabbing his chin and forcefully turning his head forward. “Look at _me._”

“Uh… yeah, I mean-” Jesse’s rolling his eyes as he speaks, trying to see what Genji is doing. He grins distractedly up at Hanzo, grabbing his wrist and gently but insistently pulling the hand away from his face.

He can feel a burst of surprise and… respect? washing over him from Hanzo’s direction but can’t focus on it.

“Hey Genji, buddy, maybe you shouldn’t-”

It’s too late.

Jesse can see Genji pressing the little button at the base of Zenyatta’s neck. Jesse jerks upright, almost toppling Hanzo out of his lap if it weren’t for his hands blindly gripping his hips.

Zenyatta has completely stilled, a sound of something decompressing filling the room.

“What is that?” Hanzo is taut, now staring at Zenyatta’s back as well while Genji slightly leans back to look the robot up and down.

For a couple seconds it is impossible to tell what happened – until the metal collar around the base of the fishbowl snaps open and lets a small deluge of water out from the inside of the glass.

Jesse groans softly. He really liked that chair.

“Zenyatta? What is happening?” Genji’s hands are now slip sliding all over the wet metal, searching for an injury that is not there.

Zenyatta is touching his chest, his neck, fingers crawling up over the now empty fish bowl.

“I am not quite sure,” he admits softly. “I am not completely aware of all of my functions.”

“Does it hurt?”

Jesse is not sure whether a robot can feel pain, but Genji looks honestly upset now. He wonders what the two seadragons even think Zenyatta is.

Hanzo has stopped his advances on Jesse to just watch the goings on. He is so taut he could just be vibrating on Jesse’s thighs. It feels like he is ready to strike fast like a snake if Zenyatta showed to be a danger to his brother.

Zenyatta grasps the fishbowl with both hands on either side and moves it slightly. His posture seems to minimally… relax, somehow, though Jesse could not say how he figured that. Maybe a micro motion in the metal limbs.

“Ah,” the robot says softly. “I see. I had wondered where the release mechanism was.” He starts to gently lift the bowl, a bit of rest water sluicing down his body. “I had been unable to find anything in my programming, so it had to be something more manual…”

Jesse has his arms around Hanzo’s waist, hugging him like a teddy bear as he watches Zenyatta gently lift the fish bowl off. The octopus that had been inside is hanging its chubby little limbs weakly now that there’s no water flowing around it anymore.

Genji’s hands are nervously fluttering about Zenyatta’s small waist, his eyes huge as he stares at the fish bowl and then the dead looking octopus that is the robot’s face. Jesse thinks Zenyatta could have casually beheaded himself; it would have had the same reaction. It had to be a horrible sight for the brothers.

“Zen…?” Genji whispers, voice cracking a bit on the end. He is curling his hands more tightly around the slim waist, fingers easily touching each other around it. “Zenyatta? Are you alright?”

Zenyatta has twisted to the side, gently putting the fishbowl up-side-down on a side table. He pauses when he hears the panic in the seadragon’s voice. He turns back to him, long fingered hands cupping Genji’s cheeks.

“I am well,” he assures him, then reaches up once more and gently grasps the octopus. Jesse’s belly lurches when he pulls it upward. He does not know what to think about it – but within seconds Zenyatta has shed the chubby armed contraption and gently put it into the fish bowl where it lies like a rubber Halloween mask.

It occurs to Jesse, when he looks back to the robot and sees the side of its face – its true face – that it had been exactly that. Just a mask. Nothing more – nothing less.

Maybe to fit in better with the ocean life? To not scare the brothers that are bristling like cats and staring at him in horrified shock? Jesse could only guess.

Zenyatta pauses in his motions briefly, then lowers his arms, hands coming to a rest in his lap. Or Genji’s.

“I am… sorry. I did not mean to upset you by shedding the device so easily.”

Hanzo is shifting on Jesse’s lap, suddenly reminding him of his existence. It feels like he is about to slip off and maybe stalk over to the couple, so Jesse grips him to keep him from moving.

Hanzo’s sharp gaze immediately snaps back to him. He lifts one side of his lip to show off his sharp teeth. His eyes look… different. Feral. Jesse can feel the aggressive need to protect ricochet through his own body and taking his breath away. He blindly curls his arms around Hanzo’s hips and crushes him to himself, holding on as if trying to keep a grip on a squirming cat.

“He’s not in danger,” he grits out, trying to see through his own sudden irrationality. “Calm down, damn you!”

He can feel the rage suddenly being directed at _him_. The whole thing is so disorienting that he almost lets go of the seadragon. It feels like he got thrust into the ocean and has completely lost his orientation. Where is up? Where is down? He needs to find it before he drowns.

He tries to push against the feelings swamping him, and suddenly it… works. They retreat, leaving him alone and reeling as Hanzo marginally relaxes in his crushing grip. Jesse feels like his ears should be ringing after the turmoil that had washed through and over him like a tidal wave, but all he hears is the gentle humming voice of Zenyatta as he talks to Genji, bend over him, metal palms framing his face.

Jesse turns his head and looks over to them, blinking slowly. Genji looks calmer now but still a bit weirded out as he looks up at the robot basically curled around him now. He then looks back up at Hanzo who slowly sits back down on Jesse’s knees, his face once more the neutral mask he usually wears.

Jesse slowly releases the grip he has on him.

“Alright? We good?”

Hanzo’s eyes narrow somewhat, mouth pulling down.

“He does not seem inclined to attack my brother,” he allows finally with a derisive sniff. “However. We are not… ‘good’.”

Jesse blinks slowly. He sits back with a long exhale, spearing his fingers into his hair and pulling on it lightly.

“What do ya mean?”

Interacting with Hanzo feels like having to navigate through a minefield. The seadragon looks down on him, making Jesse feel small as a fly.

“Your attention keeps swerving. Away from me.”

Jesse pulls a bit harder on his hair. His gaze wants to flick back to Genji and Zenyatta, but he feels like if he does that now, Hanzo will be _seriously_ pissed.

He does not really find out what that would entail.

Of course now that Hanzo has made it abundantly clear that he wants to be Jesse’s sole focus, not looking over at Genji and Zenyatta becomes an almost impossible feat. Jesse can feel his eyes starting to water as he stares up into Hanzo’s unimpressed face.

Hanzo moves. There’s no keeping him from doing so this time: he gets up and grabs the front of Jesse’s shirt, hauling him up like he’s not a heavy, grown man.

“Come,” he says, dragging him past his brother and the robot, and towards Jesse’s bedroom. Jesse follows a few stumbling steps before his brain finally kicks back in and he drags his heels, hands gently clasping Hanzo’s wrist.

“Hey… hey now. Slow down a sec, will ya?”

He steps closer until they’re basically chest to chest, and he can smell the salty ocean scent coming off of Hanzo.

“You sure you wanna leave ‘em alone?” he asks in a low rumble, glancing behind him towards Genji and Zenyatta. Genji’s hands are now on Zenyatta’s face, fingertips lightly sliding along the smooth metal surface.

Like this, Jesse can now properly see the robot’s features, too. In that there aren’t many. His chin is glinting in a vaguely golden color, modeled to make it almost look like the thing has a mouth. It’s eye slits are angled at a gentle slope, slowly strobing green and yellow. It occurs to Jesse that those were some of the colors the fake octopus head had displayed at times.

When he glances back again as no reaction is forthcoming, he can see Hanzo’s face unguarded for a moment. It is a precious second only, really. Hanzo looks… soft in that instance. And sorrowful.

However, the reprieve only lasts for a moment before Hanzo realizes he is being watched. His face closes off again, fist tightening in the front of Jesse’s shirt and jerking him forward.

“My brother will manage without my input.”

He pulls. Jesse has no other option but to stumble after him, throwing one last glance behind to watch Zenyatta, still framing Genji’s face in his hands, leaning down to press their mouths together. Or where his mouth would be, at the very least.

It is a sweet picture, but something prickles along Jesse’s spine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poll for next chapter had been...
> 
> Something happens. Do Hanzo and Jesse notice?
> 
> They notice
> 
> They are too involved in each other to notice


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Hanzo and Jesse play, they don't notice what's going on around them...
> 
> warning: sexual content

There’s a weird atmosphere in the air as Hanzo pulls Jesse into the bedroom. It feels like everything around him is vibrating. Like everything _inside_ him is vibrating. His bones feel weirdly tender from the constant buzzing of Hanzo’s emotions against and through him.

It feels like it is too much – like he has to buckle any second and just curl up on the floor to try and breathe through the experience.

Hanzo looks back at him, his dark eyes hard and mirror like, studying Jesse’s face. His tight grip, sharp pointed nails close to digging into Jesse’s skin, relaxes slightly. He tugs him closer, pulling him around and urging him backwards until the backs of his knees hit his bed.

He sits down automatically and stares up at Hanzo, heart feeling sluggish in his chest. Like it should be running a mile a minute as Hanzo stares down at him and slowly drags his fingertips along his jaw line.

“Are you worried? About my brother and his toy?” he asks softly, face expressionless but so damn handsome. Jesse obediently looks at him. It’s not difficult to do so now that they’re alone, though part of him has an ear out to the hallway, wondering if he’ll hear the robot transform into some kind of… killing machine.

It’s ridiculous, but this seems to be what his life has become.

“I don’t know,” he says slowly. “Maybe I’m more worried that _you_ aren’t more worried. I thought you and your brother were… inseparable.”

Hanzo’s mouth presses flat, the corners pulling down some.

“I thought that as well. But it seems I was mistaken.”

“What do you mean?”

“Enough. I do not wish to talk about this.”

Ah… that seems to be a pretty tender point for whatever reason.

Part of Jesse wants to keep nudging his finger into the wound to try and get more information out of Hanzo, but the sea dragon seems to decide that this has been enough of a pause and suddenly pushes Jesse’s shoulders to make him fall back onto the bed, then crawls to get on top of him.

Maybe he has felt Jesse’s intent over the bond they are now sharing. Or he’s seen the shrewd glimmer in his eyes.

Whatever it is, Hanzo seems hellbent on keeping Jesse on his toes so he won’t have time to think about these _pesky details_.

He has him pinned to the matress like a fly and watches him steadily. If Jesse weren’t able to feel the nervousness radiating through their bond, he would feel like some poor critter in front of a shark.

“You have given me a taste of how humans mate,” Hanzo murmurs. There is something contemptuous about the squint of his eyes as he says it; like he thinks mating outside the water is barbaric and humans can’t possibly be doing it right. “I wish to continue.”

Jesse blinks slowly. He can feel the lust simmering through Hanzo, lapping at his own belly. He’s never felt this backlash of emotions before. It’s usually more than enough for him to have to deal with himself, especially when he’s getting down and dirty with someone. He starts to wonder just how long he can even last when he not only sees that handsome face in front of him but also feels how much Hanzo is enjoying himself.

And he _will_ enjoy himself, if only because Jesse wants to wipe that condescending twist of his mouth off of his face.

“You wish to continue, hm?” he murmurs, slowly trying to pull the reigns back in. Get a bit of agency back so he wouldn’t be bullied around by this fairy tale being that seemed much too confident for someone who had trouble even staying on his own two feet just a week back. He reaches out, hands grasping Hanzo’s thighs and rubbing them up and down. He can feel the thick muscles trembling beneath his fingertips; maybe the powerful tail he has as a sea creature has lend itself to this.

Hanzo nods regally. He leans down, planting his hands next to Jesse’s head to lower himself until Jesse can feel the heat radiating off his body and feel the breath puffing against his lips. Through their connection Hanzo’s anticipation is a sweet boost for Jesse’s ego. He looks so cool and collected, but the need he radiates tells a completely different story. It seems all he can do is not to vibrate on the spot as he waits for Jesse to lift up and close the gap.

Only that Jesse doesn’t. He lets him wait for a few sweet moments, feeling the anticipation mounting and trembling at the edges of his awareness, then rasps: “I don’t think it’s just yours to decide…”

Hanzo doesn’t react at first, predator focus all on wanting to get kissed. When Jesse’s words register, though, his head rears back. Jesse grins at his incredulous stare, pretending like he can’t feel the turmoil inside Hanzo.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Hanzo hisses. “You want me. I can feel it.”

Ah. True… Jesse isn’t the only one who can tap into this… connection. It’s a bummer Hanzo has already figured it out – but that doesn’t mean he can’t still play.

“Just because you want it doesn’t mean you have to get it, too,” he murmurs, hands slowly rubbing up and down the muscular thighs. Outside, everything is perfectly quiet. Too quiet? He can’t tell. It’s difficult to focus on these things when agitated spots of color appear on Hanzo’s high cheekbones.

“But you want it too!” he insists. Jesse can hear the soft sound of fabric starting to tear as Hanzo digs his nails into the sheets. He is almost vibrating on top of him. For just a split second it is like he can see a long, beautiful azure tail lash behind Hanzo, but it is just his imagination. Of course.

He slowly lets his hands move from Hanzo’s thighs to his waist, thumbs digging in just short of uncomfortable.

“Don’t matter,” he replies easily. The pressure of the handsome creature sitting on his cock is doing things to him, but he’s hellbent on establishing some rules. He can’t just let him trample all over him… even though he thinks he might quite enjoy it. “Ya don’t get what you want just because you said so. Your ma never taught you some manners?”

There’s a flash of something truly ugly slithering over Hanzo’s face at that. It’s gone as fast as it has come but it lefts Jesse with a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Hanzo’s expression becomes more calculated then. He narrows his eyes at Jesse while he minimally arches his back and presses down against the bulge nudging insistently into him. Jesse can’t help but hiss, cock pulsing.

Hanzo leans down again; closer this time. Jesse can feel the whisper of his lips against his mouth, the touch sending jitters of electricity through his body.

“You wish for me to debase myself,” Hanzo croons softly. “You wish that I beg for your attention, is that it? Does that… excite you? To have a creature as powerful as me beg for your pathetic little human appendage?”

Jesse’s breath hitches as he draws in a sharp breath and says with a slight tremble in his voice: “Oh sweetheart… ain’t anythin’ pathetic about that cock, I assure you. I could make ya sing so loud your brother’ll come runnin’ to see what I’m doin’ to ya.”

His drawl has become more pronounced he can tell, words slurring into one another, but Hanzo does not seem to have a problem understanding this time. He stays right where he is, just teasing with the warmth of his delicious mouth, his perfectly kept goatee tickling as it brushes against Jesse’s stubble.

“You are so eager yourself. Do you think me a fool that wouldn’t notice how you tilt your hips and rub yourself against my behind?”

Jesse’s skin prickles as he realizes Hanzo is right. He hadn’t even noticed how he had moved, gently dry humping that tight ass pressing down against him. He bites the tip of his tongue, staring up at the creature. He wonders how he could’ve lost the upper hand so quickly.

“Don’t be like that,” he croons, trying to endear himself as he rubs along Hanzo’s back. “Be a good boy, won’t ya?”

“By asking to be mated by _you_? A _human?_” Hanzo asks derisively. He sounds surprisingly genuine; as if he truly is disgusted by the thought of it. Bummer that he is still sitting right on his dick after practically demanding to be put through his paces.

“Don’t that get you hot?” Jesse rasps. He slips one hand on the back of Hanzo’s neck, covering it with his warm palm and gently squeezing it with his fingers as to stave off any budding protests against it. Fingertips nudging into the dark hair he can feel the heat radiating off the creature’s scalp. He urges Hanzo’s head further down, their lips all but pressed together, and drawls into his open, panting mouth: “Ya like the thought of it… of gettin’ rough an’ dirty with a filthy human.

Of gettin’ your little hole spread on nasty human dick and have me pound you until you go cross-eyed.”

He can feel Hanzo weakly strain against the grip, wanting to pull back and maybe look all shocked about Jesse talking so crudely, but Jesse can keep him close without much trying. He wonders if Hanzo had ever heard dirty talk. He’s not sure what he and his brother got up to under the sea… though he certainly would like to know now that he’s seen them sweetly making out.

He slipy a big hand between them and awkwardly twists it to cup Hanzo’s crotch. He can feel the rigid length of it, and how it flexes when he lovingly squeezes down on it.

“It’s alright… I won’t tell nobody, right? It’ll be our little secret. I can give you just what you want. What you need. Get you to screamin’ so loud that your brother’ll get all jealous.”

That one is a shot in the dark, but he can feel the hot moist breath expelled against his chin. Hanzo is mouthing on it like a babe now. He seems delirious, caught by Jesse’s words. He certainly doesn’t seem put out by the thought of getting Genji mad that he’s getting human cock so good he’ll be drooling.

“You think so?” Hanzo whispers softly. His hips are moving, rutting against Jesse’s palm. Jesse grins slowly, thumb swiping along his hairline.

“Oh, I know it… He’ll be so mad that I can give it to you so good… All you need to do… is ask for it.”

Jesse needs this. This little concession on Hanzo’s part. Have him finally go nice and pliant and be a sweet babydoll for once in his goddamn seamonster life.

“...Please.”

It’s so quiet that he really shouldn’t let it count – but he thinks that this is as far as he will get Hanzo tonight. And he really, really, _really_ wants this to happen. He urges Hanzo’s chin back up, then finally kisses him, slow and deep just to reel himself back in and not shoot prematurely.

Damn, this is happening. It really is.

.o.

Getting Hanzo out of his clothes is as frustrating as it is painfully sweet. The creature seems to have forgotten all about how they work; he wriggles and jerks and undulates, trying his best to help Jesse’s fumbling hands in peeling him out of all the layers, but only making it all the harder on the both of them.

Jesse is distracted by Hanzo’s mouth, hot and suckling and greedy, always wanting more and more kisses and not letting him breathe enough to think about how he needs to slip buttons through holes and pull sleeves down arms to get this whole thing moving along.

His head is filled with the _sounds_ Hanzo makes; needy, reedy whines that hit him bone deep for some reason.

“Calm… calm…” he chants low, trying to gentle Hanzo down enough to finally push those pants down. Hanzo’s hands are everywhere, his nails sharp and threatening. Jesse is afraid of them, if he is being honest; one wrong move and it could seriously hurt… though he does not think it would be a good idea to tell that Hanzo. Maybe he would do it out of spite, then.

He wouldn’t put it past him.

When he finally has him peeled out of everything, Jesse’s body lifts like a wave, toppling the surprised dragon over to be on his back, staring blearily at him. He looks breathtaking, spread out like that; belly trembling and vulnerable, cock curved up and painfully hard…

Hanzo’s skin reflects light a little weirdly; like it is a bit slicker than it should be. A bit _smoother_ than it should be. It feels like it too, when Jesse reaches out and drags his fingertips over Hanzo’s heaving chest, down, further down, rounding his navel and marvelling for a moment that he even has one.

Are sea dragons born like humans? He knows so little about them still. Hanzo is very taciturn about telling him anything at all about his life in the water or his past. He always becomes very pouty very fast, and Jesse really doesn’t want this to move into ‘angry’ territory.

He stares into his eyes as he curls his big fist around the slowly flexing cock and squeezes it. Hanzo’s mouth opens but no sound comes out. He is digging his fingers into the bedsheets again, and Jesse winces as he hears them rip once more. Oh well…

“So you want me to put you through your paces?” he drawls slowly just to gather himself. His mouth feels swollen and overly sensitive from Hanzo’s eager kisses. He can’t stop tonguing the corners of it; want to turn and rub it against his shoulder to get rid of the distracting tingles. “But you gotta be real nice, you know. No pouting. No fightin’.”

Hanzo’s dark brows twitch and pull down somewhat. He looks ready to argue for a second, but Jesse slowly pumping his gorgeous erection has the fight go out of him quickly. Ahh… beautiful.

Here the creature is as any other man, apparently. Hanzo’s hips jerk up, his legs doing a weird little scrabble as he tries to remember how to use them, presumably. Jesse leans down, brushing over his hair.

“Shhh it’ll be alright… just stay put for a second while I get my clothes off, yeah? And then we’ll get your brother nice an’ jealous.”

Hanzo nods along eagerly. He does not seem ashamed about Jesse openly saying it now. He probably has no concept of… incest as a whole. It shouldn’t get Jesse as hot as it does... But he’s simply not a good enough man, he supposes as he leans down to smear a kiss on the crown of Hanzo’s cock just to tide him over while he gets up and starts to rip at his own clothes.

Hanzo isn’t just laying there at least. He doesn’t seem too aware or sure what to do with his legs but he knows what to do with a cock, at the very least. He bites his knuckle while he curls a hand around his dick and gives it some nice, slow drags.

Jesse slows down a bit with his clothes, watching as Hanzo’s hips flex up and into his grip. He doesn’t have a foreskin that he could pull back, but it looks a little like his tip is blooming open, and a thick glob of a clear liquid is jerked out and slides like slime over his knuckles. He’s never seen anything like it.

“What the…” Jesse rasps. Just in shorts, tented impossibly in front of him with a wet spot to decorate the crown, he comes over and lies on his belly. It’s pretty good because he can hump the mattress as he gets up close and personal with Hanzo’s dick and the things it does.

He glances up for a moment and sees Hanzo’s dark-eyed, intent stare on his face. As he watches, the dragon pulls his lips back, showing off the sharp tips of his teeth which he is using to gnaw at his knuckle. It kind of looks like he’s snarling. It shouldn’t be as hot as it is.

He looks down again at the cock. Hanzo is keeping up the slow downwards motion, massaging the rigid shaft and showing Jesse up close how the tip blooms open again to drip out another thick gush of… pre-cum? Is that sea dragon pre-cum?

Jesse reaches out and takes a glob of it up, rubbing it between thumb and forefinger. He can feel a myriad of small… orbs. Kind of like caviar. Caviar. Fish eggs.

He looks up at Hanzo who chews on the corner of his mouth, having watched Jesse the whole time.

“I don’t think that a _human_ could fertilize them,” he murmurs, looking away. He sounds derisive, but his cheeks are ruddy red. Like he kind of gets off on the thought.

Jesse’s brain just flatlines after he finds himself wondering if this is the seadragon equivalent of a breeding kink.

.o.

Outside, the door of Jesse’s apartment gently clicks shut behind Genji whose eyes are solely on Zenyatta leading the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poll for the next chapter had been...
> 
> What do Hanzo and Jesse get up to?
> 
> Topping from the bottom  
69  
Rimming/fingering/prostate massage  
Mating press


End file.
